I just wanted to give a shout out to Fred Taylor, who posts here a lot.
He refinished a very rare General Television AC-65 "Climax" for me over the past month or so. It just arrived today and to say I'm impressed with his work is an understatement. I wanted it to look original/factory and he delivered with a very high quality finish that looks about dead mint. And I'm glad he did not refinish the back cover/panel!
As anyone who follows Fred's work here probably knows already, the guy's a pro. Just thought I'd ad my name to that list.
Thanks Fred!

Putting the radio back together tonight.

Pics with chassis later?

Just put the radio back together on my lunch hour
There are more in the "antique radio discussions" forum; here's one.

A great looking radio all complete. I like the level of gloss that was used on this cabinet. Suits it perfectly!

I agree! I gave him very little direction, but he knew I wanted it to look as original as possible. Too many people tone fins and other details too dark and contrasty, then throw a bunch of high gloss over them. This has got to be very, very close to what I imagine the set would have looked like new.

Also, before and after pix here, lots of them.

https://imgur.com/a/AaaDEds

Great job. Now the insides look as original as the cabinet. I re-stuff my caps also. No one sees them, but I know what the insides look like. I would love to see the expression someones face if they should pull the chassis years from now.
Fred is the man for cabinet work, for sure.

Freeman

Hello Diverted,
I like that cabinet design the set looks amazing .
Sincerely rich

Only, it isn't.

I'm aware of that.
I think most would agree that the result is better than what it previously looked like. If you don't, well hey! You don't have to look at it.

Even one in better condition than this one was is not original, as the finish has changed over the decades. Radios which are nicely refinished looks more like they did when they came from the factory than almost all of the radios we now find.

I quite agree. I find it a bit frustrating that was is considered a "correct" radio is often a representation of 80-years of oxidation and finish clouding, rather than what the radio probably looked like in its heyday.

It's the same attitude that would probably consider a 17th century painting transported in a time machine to 2019 to be inauthentic looking because it has "no patina" and was too bright and smooth looking.

"I quite agree" too. And that is what I am saying. The refinished radio does not look like it did when new.

People need to understand that about semi-gloss finishes. They are MUCH easier to do since they do not show imperfections as easily and a lot less work for the same reason and do not generally get a buff-out. A lot of them are done with little or no grain filling, not saying that this one is done that way. But if you like it that way - -

That begs the question, what did this radio look like when new?

Do we really know the answer to that question, exactly?

I do like how the cabinet turned out!

We know the style and colors that were used then and today. We know that most wooden radios of that time were gloss. All else would be a gradient with red brush on enamel near the low end and a grain filled, gloss finish using the proper toners near the other end.

Edit. I sometimes take the obvious for granted. In this case that would be the fact that Fred does a good job.

Fred did an outstanding job of bringing my uber rare (ever seen another one outside of a picture in one (1) book?) Climax Baby Emerald back to its intended glory!



Terry

Oh YES, Fred does fantastic work, there's absolutely no doubt!

Which is more-or-less happened when Japanese television network NHK sponsored the restoration of the Sistine Chapel:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restorati ... l_frescoes

This situation is not really clear-cut example of what you are talking about, because the debate centers around whether the toners that were known to be used by Michaelangelo in other works were removed by the restoration. There is no debate that other, definitely unintentional, degradation was corrected. I don't (and probably no one else knows for sure, even real experts) whether the restoration removed toners along with the grime. But its pretty darn bright...

Brett

Its Diverteds money and radio, what ever makes the owner happy. Pickey, pickey here.

Just the facts, Mam - -