[morzh]

A guy on the Russian forum told me today that one of the differences between the 90 and 70 cabinets is the ... don't know what call them (in either Russian or English....well, let me call it "raised design")...is that flat-to-raised type in grillwork in 90 which is absent in 70.

I told him that it was probably a version of the design as my 70 (and I know it is a 70 cabinet from other features) does have the same grillwork as the 90.

Here are his 90 and 70.

My 70 - you can clearly see the raised part in the grill.
   
His 70 - no raised part, the lattice is slightly tapered (base part wider than the top)
   
His 90 - also the raised part.
   

[tab10672]

Do you mean the top of the center cut out? I know the 90 has more of a peak at top of the arch compared to the 70.

[morzh]

No. This is not what I mean. I know about the peak - actually not everyone notices that. 90 looks a bit pointed.

No, I mean the grillwork. Look at any particular piece of it at any place and imagine the cross-section.

Now it could be sort of like the Russian letter ' Д ' or as a simple trapezoid.

[tab10672]

The routering looks more pronounced on the 90 because the panel is 3/8" thick compared to 1/4" on the 70. I have been told some early 70's had the thicker 3/8" panel

[Steve Davis]

I believe the later 90s also had 1/4 inch thick front panels.

As far as the profile of edges of the cutouts, there is some variation from cabinet to cabinet. Philco made a lot of cabinets in the day, they had to grind new cutters and regrind dull cutters almost constantly, it was done by hand by highly skilled craftsmen but still, some variation crept in.

Steve

[Eliot Ness]

Steve's explanation makes sense on that 70.

The front panel on his 90 doesn't look right, it doesn't seem to have the correct grain pattern.

[tab10672]

Every original 90 panel I have seen has plain/flat cut (I didn't know what that pattern was called until Steve posted) veneer.

[Arran]

The control panel on a 90 is always walnut, probably French walnut, the cut used probably varied, and what part of the walnut tree used probably varied as well. The 70 front panels can be either ribbon mahogany or French walnut, though the veneer looks like quarter sawed french walnut as the grain is straight much like the ribbon mahogany. If in doubt as to which cabinet is which the 90s always have feet cut out of the molding on the front corners, the 70s always have a straight molding with no feet. I don't know about the grille cutouts, the first example does not look like it has a a 1/4 round profile around the edges where most I have seen do, even my model 60L had this.
Regards
Arran

[TA Forbes]

I believe that there was an option of having the arch veneer in mahogany???