Philco 38-7 Radiobar Restoration
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Joined: Feb 2014
City: Maine
Folks,
I recently purchased a beautiful excellent condition Radiobar cabinet, without any radio chassis, but a label inside calls for a Philco model 38-7, as the installed unit. Fair enough. The question I have is: which chassis is the correct one for this model? The front dial face is mounts vertically for the Radiobar. The 38-7 console model has the 25+ degree (eyeball estimate) offset for easy viewing. If I bought a table cabinet "T" with the 121 chassis, would this work? Or am I looking at the 124 chassis? I do not have one to check against the Radiobar. I need your collective expert guidance
St Tee
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City: Sandwick, BC, CA
The proper chassis is a 38-7 chassis, the code number is irrelevant that refers to electrical revisions made on the same model chassis, like 121, 122, etc., mechanically they are all the same. The only one that you couldn't use is a 38-7 chassis intended for a chairside as the mounting hardware is different, but a chassis from any table model or sloped panel floor model will work. If there is a difference it may be in which loudspeaker was used, the 39-7 consoles would be more likely to use a 10'' speaker rather then an 8'' which is what a table set would use, I don't know which speaker the radiobar version needs.
Regards
Arran
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If you have a nice set that can be restored and enjoyed, I wouldn't be too worried about minutae.
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Joined: Feb 2014
City: Maine
Thank you both for your expertise. Now to locate a chassis. This Radiobar was a nice find. I promised the seller I would chronicle the steps taken, and give some credit to them. It will be a multi-year project to find the bar glass. Definitely a labor of love, and $$$
Thanks again
St Tee
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City: Fairfield, OH
I just saw some Radiobar glassware last night on eBay.
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City: Cleveland, OH
There's always glassware on fleabay for the radio bar......the only problem is the prices.
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City: Sandwick, BC, CA
Finding a 38-7 chassis should not be a problem, or even a more or less complete console with a rough cabinet, Philco seems to have built a lot of the 38-7XX console versions, even the Canadian version. I would not gut a table model 38-7T though, those are kind of stylish whereas the 38-7XX console cabinets are kind of bland and much more plentiful.
Regards
Arran
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City: Maine
Arran,
I'm trying to pick up a 38-7 console to gut out. Trouble is that at least on ebay they ship local only. If I get lucky, I'll get one close to home. I've seen several on ebay, but the prices have been off high. I tried to have a chassis only ship but the seller refused. I am interested in any glassware that pops up
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They probably refused to ship the chassis and speaker alone because they don't want to be stuck with the cabinet. Some people part out consoles but the top value bits are normally the knobs, dial, and the dial escutcheon, depending on make or model, and everything else ends up being worth less the more it weighs. I would just post an ad in the classified forum looking for a chassis for a 38-7 T or XXX, but have a look inside the Radiobar cabinet to see what speaker you need to ask for there.
One thing I learned when looking for old radio parts is that it sometimes takes a while to find what you need, for example it took me 18 years to find a suitable replacement chassis for a Canadian G.E E-81. To be honest I wasn't looking for continuously all that time, I was only aggressively looking for maybe 5 years, and found one in the form of a chassis from a U.S built RCA 7K. But I don't think you will have to wait quite as long to find a 38-7 chassis, Philco was the top producer of radios in the U.S market during the 1930s, and given that this is a 6 tuber they sold a fair number of them.
Regards
Arran
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Hmmmm....... Not sure about the speaker size myself. My 37-620 Chairside has a small speaker like the 37-620 Tombstone would have.
The mounting hardware is indeed different, but I am sue that you can find or manufacture an adequate replacement.
The Bar Radios are a nice looking set. Good luck with your resto!! 
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Joined: Feb 2014
City: Maine
Thanks to all,
I appreciate all the great input. I have several restores going on right now and decided that the people here are the best on Philco radios. I have other models I'm working on but I will open up other threads as I run into questions.
73's
St Tee
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St Tee, there's been a few listings pop up on eBay for the glassware. Prices are still low
Posts: 13
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Joined: Feb 2014
City: Maine
Thanks to all,
I appreciate all the great input. I have several restores going on right now and decided that the people here are the best on Philco radios. I have other models I'm working on but I will open up other threads as I run into questions.
73's
St Tee
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City: Sandwick, BC, CA
There is a forum on here for makes other then Philco as well. A lot of us play with other brands, I for one like Canadian G.Es.
Regards
Arran
Posts: 13
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Joined: Feb 2014
City: Maine
Thanx. I'll check the other forums as well.
Addendum: I just picked up some glassware for the Radiobar ( 8 glasses) Jeez...I need to go into the glassware business!!! I'll post pix on the restoration process as I proceed. Nothing to report but still looking for a proper 38-7.
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