[tbone]

I have always wanted a really high end console radio that I could actually afford. The 1000Z, Baby Strats, Scott sets were pretty much out of my range. I got lucky back in October 2017 and I purchased a 38-690 locally here in CT from an ARF Member. It was only a 2 hour round trip and my brother in-law helped me get it home. The radio was sold in operating condition, but there were issues. Knowing that I was planning on a full restoration, I would tackle each item one at a time.

I did a post in the refinishing thread when I was working on the cabinet, but I figured I'd show the complete radio project from start to finish.

Here is a list of what needed to be done.

Repair the previous electronic restoration. Many bad solder connections were found, and caps were missed. Also many out of tolerance resistors, and 2 candohms that will be replaced. Note: There were no paper caps left for me to restuff, so I left it alone and stuck with modern caps.

Stuff the electrolytic cans with 630 V film caps.

Rebuild the RF sub chassis. only two caps were replaced and all the rest were original.

Paint the rusty main chassis, sub chassis, and power/amp chassis.

Repair the cracked dial. It was spinning loosely.

Repair the audio muting switch.

Perform an Alignment.

Refinish the cabinet. A poor attempt at refinishing before left me with a layer of polyurethane to remove.

Here are the before pictures. More to follow.