Majestic 1250 cabinet was in bad shape, the bottom section was loose and some veneer on the left and right shoulders were bad , the grill was loose and also the inside of cabinet was nasty to say the least. The lower center section, book match veneer was shot, the sides looks loke they used some cheap poplar veneer with no grain so om going to put on some nice walnut veneer to cover up the cheap poplar stuff. The left and right side vertical strips were also peeling off the veneer. I will replace with something close to as original as I can. I will put some mahogany crotch burl veneer on the left and right shoulders. I'm going to tone this cabinet that will make your eyes pop. Stay tuned for updates on this rare Majestic console. Speaker is ready and the chassis is going to be redone as well.

Speaker is ready

OK I am coming along on the cabinet, got a lot done over the weekend. I am sharping my veneer skills and continuing to excel in it. Replacing veneer is an art form and has to be done right using the right tools and some patience an lots of practice. Anyway the cabinet now is ready for grain filler then I will apply my main color and color toning. THe shoulders I replaced the peeling veneer with walnut burl book match veneer, the front left and right vertical columns in zebra veneer along with factory lower base section , book matched like factory. Both sides were veneered in mahogany, the old stuff was a plain dull poplar veneer with no grain pattern like you see on the Midwest radio cabinets. The mahogany will be great macthing with the mahogany top section.

As always looking beautiful Fred

Gary

got some work done today on the cabinet, I didn't want to have to replace the veneer on the top section of cabinet but the veneer was bad, Something soaked into it over the years and I think it was an oil of some kind. The veneer would not sand properly and was very soft. So sparing no time I removed it and replaced with a book matched walnut and with maple strips. Everything will be stained and toned for the deferent woods to come together, should look wonderful with all new veneer. Mahogany on both sides, walnut burl on the upper side of the shoulders and walnut vertical columns, with zebra book match lower center section. Inside cabinet was painted dark blue as factory, also added 4 new metal floor guides to keep radio cabinet off the floor and easier to side on floor. Next week I hope to get the color on and get it sealed and perhaps get the clear coats applied. Chassis may be getting a new chrome job, its rusty and is in bad shape, so I may have to bite the bullet and get it re chromed. If you didn't notice I switched the zebra veneer I put on the vertical columns back to walnut, just didn't look right. also the top had sunk down a little and I had to fill and re level it , so now the top is perfectly flat again.

Going to be a real handsome radio.

Look forward to the finished pics.

thanks Gary

This radio is becoming a work of art, it think the way I toned it they would have sold more sets, I didn't want to make it look factory. The way I have now is stunning to say the least and I cant wait to finish this weekend. Right now I have only the sealer coats on . This weekend I will sand down the sealer with 320 grit and re clear with an %80 gloss with 5 coats of Mohawk clear and perhaps install the grill cloth. WOW what a looker.

Boy! that is one beautiful radio (even my wife thinks so; that's high praise) and will stand out from the crowd. Back in the day it was made, possibly buyers liked a more austere finish or it faded and lost some beauty (like we have ; ).

A lot of work to strip the chassis and have it re-plated but worth it for such a wonderful result.

Is this one a keeper?

Did you level the top with Bondo Fred?

thanks for posting Gary

Yes I am planning on keeping this one, it such a nice looking radio. I bet it will sound amazing given the tube count and the 15 inch speaker. I did use a type of bondo to fill the low area on the top..

Looks great!

Outstanding!
I wanna be like you, Fred, when (if) I grow up

Finished cabinet today, I'm very pleased with it and looking forward to getting the chassis complete and installed back into cabinet.

Looks great Fred.

Lenny

Chassis is all refurbished and I have to do now is recap and check everything, I went with black wrinkle finish instead of rechroming. I bead blasted chassis removing all the crap and old chrome. The finish turned out great, looks like factory did it even though the shields came wrinkle finish already. The cost would have been to much and the time .

Wow. I always love to see the beauty in the veneers and how they all come together. Thanks for the hard work you put in in saving this majestic radio.

Chassis turned out well; not original but worthy of the radio. Yes! having been there stripping and re-plating takes an lot of time.

What did you remove from the chassis to do the work?

Gary

Love it Fred....looks great.

Lenny

I removed the tuning condenser and the complete dial assembly, I masked off everything else. I have seen chassis come in wrinkle finishes before, cant remember which they where. I almost puked when I got into the chassis, it was the nastiness chassis I ever pulled from a radio , I thought about getting a shot from the doctor to protect me from the crap that was on the poor chassis.

Stunning, just stunning excellent work as always Fred.

Had some time to finish up the Majestic this Friday , day after Thanksgiving . The chassis had been gone thru and is now playing great. Found the correct speaker from Ed Jacobs that had one for sale on this forum. Right out of a model Majestic 1250 so now everything is original except for chassis paint and veneer on cabinet which unfortunately had to be replaced but by doing a decent job on cabinet it looks great and I can say this Majestic was saved from the bone yard and has many more years left on this planet.