I picked up this GE model J-62 today. It has it's original finish in beautiful condition. I have previously owned a J-62 and have seen others and on all of them the finish had darkened to the point of sometimes completely loosing any sense of what it should look like. I thought I would post pics of the finish as a reference for others.











Larry

Thanks, I got one in great shape but has darkened quite a bit. Time to try the Goop cleaning.
They call this the "jewelry box" or something similar.

Rocketeer, thanks for posting all the extra pictures!! It is beautiful and your finish is fantastic! Mine is very dark and I hope that cleaning it up will bring back the maghoney finish. Say your back is also in excellent condition and alot of those are trashed!!!! Congrats again and thanks again for sharing!!

Lynn

Tlc, I have owned two of these over the years and both have been very dark compared to orginial finish and I don't know why? I am gonning to try the cleaning with gojo and see how it goes. These GE's are call "GE Treasue Chest"!! The J620 is the same radio only in Light Mahogany or I have heard it called "The Blonde Version"! I am happy to know you own one also!!

Lynn

Another affirmation of the typically darkened with age original finish found on J-62's. The GE decal was just barely vissible on the example I once owned. It had a huge chunk knocked off it's top, which i repaired and hid by further darkening the outer edge. I gifted the finished radio to good friends who enjoy it on a regular basis.

Bruce Webster

According to the schematic in Riders, the J-62 uses a mahogany cabinet and the J-620 uses a bleached mahogany cabinet. Both models use the same chassis. The J-620 has a blue dial, light colored knobs, and the sticker underneath identifies it as a J-620. There was a J-620 sold on Ebay a while back and it had a blue dial and light knobs. The one shown on Radio Museum also has a dark dial (could be blue) and two light knobs.

Larry

Strange. I have a J620 that I have had for about 25 years. It has the dark brown dial backing. It was never anything near blue. It does have the ivory knobs. Unfortunately, the original finish was peeling badly and the grille cloth was in tatters. Back then I was just repairing radios, not restoring them, so I replaced the grille cloth with one that just looked good and stripped the case and very lightly stained it. I've never gotten around to cleaning the stain off it and putting a correct finish coat on it. It does play well and goes well with the decor in the guest room as is. I am still looking for a good way to replicate those blonde finishes.

Also unfortunately, this is the only handy photo I have of it.

It's possible the blue one I saw was an owner mod. Most J-620's do seem to have the brown dial background.

Larry

Given the manufacturing date, "end of the line" compromises could explain variations in the J-62 just prior to WWII shutdown.

Bruce Webster

Larry, Thanks for the additional info on the two sets! I have only seen one J620 with the blue dial and wondered if it had a wrong colored part. The few I have seen have the same dark dial as J62. I have only seen 4 of the J620s in that last 20 years but I don't get arround the country at all and that
one on ebay about a month back, I lost that to some one who threw a bid in at the last 3 sec. of bidding! Need I say how crushed I was? Some where, some time it will come arround again and I will have one!! Thanks for all the great info and discussion everyone!!!!

Lynn