Tube Color Sharp

[Spinning Head]

Picked up these older Sharp set at an estate sale a couple of weeks ago. There was some sort of connection problem with the line cord interlock, as there was infinite resistance at the plug end. But after removing the back and taking the cord off of the back and plugging directly into the chassis, the problem went away. Powered it up slow with a variac and eventually got to full line voltage with no major issues. Fairly clean set, I don't think it got a lot of use. I was concerned that it would use a lot of strange Japanese tubes, but they all look common for a series string set; 5GH8A, etc.

[DaveWM]

nice, don't see many Japan tube color sets.

[Username1]

Very cool ! I am a big fan of Sharp tv's. That looks like a mirror of the layout of Toshiba sets of the same vintage....

Good to see that tv end up in good hands ! !


..... Is the blue gun at the bottom on that tv....?

Is the HV button on top ??? Odd to see the convergence magnets set up like that.....

[Sandy G]

Nice set ! Ya done good !

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Spinning Head

Picked up these older Sharp set at an estate sale a couple of weeks ago. There was some sort of connection problem with the line cord interlock, as there was infinite resistance at the plug end. But after removing the back and taking the cord off of the back and plugging directly into the chassis, the problem went away. Powered it up slow with a variac and eventually got to full line voltage with no major issues. Fairly clean set, I don't think it got a lot of use. I was concerned that it would use a lot of strange Japanese tubes, but they all look common for a series string set; 5GH8A, etc.

Those sets were sold under the names, Wards Airline, Midland, Truetone and even Motorola.
All the circuits were tube based. The CRT was a low focus voltage type. They always seemed to have the blue gun on the bottom. The original caps seemed to be trouble prone.
IIRC, it was the first color set sold for under $200, in late 1967.

[rcaman]

great score.

[BigDavesTV]

Great find! Wish there were more small tube-type chassis sets around, both American and Japanese made. I'm sure since they were small, and easily carried, most went straight to the trash when they stopped working, or the CRT gave out, whichever came first. That still has quite a nice picture!

[kx250rider]

Very nice find! I haven't run across any all-tube Japanese sets in a long time.

Charles

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by BigDavesTV

Great find! Wish there were more small tube-type chassis sets around, both American and Japanese made. I'm sure since they were small, and easily carried, most went straight to the trash when they stopped working, or the CRT gave out, whichever came first. That still has quite a nice picture!

I had one older person tell me, regarding an older hybrid color set, "I paid $300.00 for that set. I'm not throwing it out, or giving it away."
We need more people like that around. More of these things, would be around.

[KentTeffeteller]

In those days, for most people, $300 was a good bit of money on average incomes. Not a casual purchase. This is a neat, interesting TV, not too many Japanese tube era sets survived in the USA. And most here, were sold under private labels. This being a Sharp brand set, makes a scarce set scarcer since it was usually seen as a store brand.

[Username1]

Originally Posted by KentTeffeteller

In those days, for most people, $300 was a good bit of money on average incomes. Not a casual purchase. This is a neat, interesting TV, not too many Japanese tube era sets survived in the USA. And most here, were sold under private labels. This being a Sharp brand set, makes a scarce set scarcer since it was usually seen as a store brand.

Ya- know When I worked at my first shop we did factory service for Sharp, and we use to drive down to Sharp-World in Paramus NJ to pick up and drop off the factory sets. We had a lot, but I don't remember seeing them in local stores.....

This was back around '81 - 85. I don't remember what Caldor sold, or any of the other local stores, back then dad got our tv's at Sears, we got lots of stuff at Sears.....

[Jeffhs]

It's interesting that some of these Sharp TVs were sold under the Motorola brand. I think Motorola was still making TVs in the late '60s; they may not have approved of an offshore company using their name, unless the offshore manufacturer was using the Motorola brand under license from Moto itself. Motorola was a very well-known brand of TVs, stereo consoles, and even transistor radios in the '50s and '60s, so any use of that brand name by any other manufacturer, Japanese or American, without the express written permission of Motorola would be considered copyright infringement.

[dieseljeep]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

It's interesting that some of these Sharp TVs were sold under the Motorola brand. I think Motorola was still making TVs in the late '60s; they may not have approved of an offshore company using their name, unless the offshore manufacturer was using the Motorola brand under license from Moto itself. Motorola was a very well-known brand of TVs, stereo consoles, and even transistor radios in the '50s and '60s, so any use of that brand name by any other manufacturer, Japanese or American, without the express written permission of Motorola would be considered copyright infringement.

Back in the day, most companies had to have a product in a certain price point, to stay competitive and maintain sales.
In the late 30's, RCA had to have an entry level five tube table radio, so they contracted with Detrola to supply it.
In the mid to later 50's, RCA contracted with Sylvania to build a 17" B&W portable, to sell at less than their lowest priced portable set.
Philco and Zenith had Waters-Conley build their lower end portable phonos.
Motorola had Sharp and later, Admiral build their lower end color portables.

[Electronic M]

The more I see of that sharp the more I wish that I had time to go and snag it from that estate sale a few weeks ago.