This early 1940's General Electric J-805 was in such bad shape that I initially turned down the restoration job. The family said it has been in the family since new, and would appreciate it if I would take on the job.

It had been stored in a daycare center in the 1970's. The kids tore off a lot of the pieces, so it needed a heck of a lot of work. I had to source the bezels, dial glass, knobs and whatnot. ARF members fixed me up with the missing bits, and it turned out very good. The amp rebuild went well, and it sounds quite nice.

Steve

Very nice!

That has gotta be a different radio !
You did great work!
Peter

Wow, Great job all the way arround!!!!! With what little you had to work with it come out fantstic!! Congrats!!!

Lynn

Just amazing what you accomplished. Congrats!
Jerry

Absolutely amazing transformation! Thanks for sharing with us

Very nice job on the J-805,Steve.I wish I had the ambition to go whole-hog like that on my J-105,but I tend to be a fixer-upper more than a full-fledged restorer.

I thought I would mention what I did with my completely trashed "Beam-A-Scope" in case anyone is interested in trying it with one of the many GE consoles(and other brands) that use them.I had considered leaving the antenna windings exposed as you did on the 805,but I had a lucid moment and came up with an idea.

My next door neighbor was installing some concrete piers for a deck to sit on.I noticed the cardboard, cylindrical "Sonotubes" he was using as forms,and the idea hit me that one of those would work great for a Beam-A-Scope housing.

I cut the tube to the appropriate length.I was able to re-use the top and bottom cardboard caps of the original housing,but they were slightly too small.So,I made a couple of "bushings" from the leftover chunk of Sonotube.I glued in the bushings and the bottom cap,installed the antenna coils and its backboard,and glued on the top cap.

For some reason I thought it would look good painted flat black,so I did just that.I then cut out the emblem from the old antenna and glued it to the new tube.I wish the crease wasn't there,but it still looks pretty good.

Mike, your restoration of the Beam-A-Scope makes for a much more original look. Good job! I will probably go that same route on the next similar restoration. Excellent tip

Steve

Ouch, that resto job is so nice it hurts. Its nice to see basket cases returned to former glory. I can only imagine the joy the family felt to see it new again. This is what the hobby is truly about. Nice job, steve.

BEAUTIFUL job! I can't believe it's the same radio. Very nice work!!!



+1

You guys need to send all of your cabinets to this guy so he can restore them just like that . Amazing .

An incredible job of restoration. Excellent work! Looks like it just came off the production line. It's a very handsome set too. It seems to have the same chassis as the J-105, and if it sounds anything like it, it will be fantastic.

-David

Mike, this was a brilliant idea. The Beam-A-Scope is still intact on my set but this is something clearly to keep in mind for the future.

-David

Good example of perseverance. I bet you have countless hours in that project. Great job!

The top of the GE radio was used as a workbench, so it was soaked with motor oil and grease which "sealed" it so it would not take a finish. I finally got it cleaned up and sanded enough to accept the stain etc.

The GE J-805 is from the same family that owned this Packard Bell console (also in the family since new) that I restored...

David, the dial glass I used is actually from a J-105, so the chassis must be the same, or very similar. You are correct, it sounds very good. Excellent bass from that big 'ol speaker.

Steve

Mike, this was a brilliant idea. The Beam-A-Scope is still intact on my set but this is something clearly to keep in mind for the future.

-David[/quote]

Thank you,David.

Yup,the 105 and the 805 use the same basic chassis.My 105 had a lot of broken bakelite trim and I got those parts from a fellow parting out an 805.

The main differences between the two radios appears to be 2 fewer pushbuttons on the 805 and the 105 also has a 61/2" speaker as well as the 14".

Also the 105 is a 10 tube set vs. the 805's 8 tubes.However,GE was pretty sneaky about how they accomplished the higher tube count.They broke up the DET,AVC,FIRST AUDIO functions into a bunch of individual 6J5s.Both radios use 6V6s in push/pull.

GE also claimed that the 105 put out 4 more watts of "undistorted power" than the 805,but I don't see how that can be myself.

Mike, I just took a look at the schematic for the J-805. There are a couple of major differences in the amplifiers. The J-105 has negative feedback while the 805 does not, and the output stage B+ is significantly higher on the 105 than the 805. This alone would account for the higher output power rating on the J-105.

-David

I see...the old "negative feedback' trick again,as Maxwell Smart would say.