PHILCO 37-660 RESTORATION

Restoration of a Philco 37-660 console radio. The radio is a 1938 model with 4 bands and features a shadow tuning meter. It has 9 tubes and push pull audio output. The cabinet style is somewhat uncommon for 1938 in that it has legs. The veneer is walnut with different cuts.

The cabinet had been in a location where alot of moisture was present and the cabinet and virtually delaminated. I started the restoration by removing the chassis, speaker, bezel and then I disassembled the cabinet down to about 20 pieces. Once I had the cabinet apart I removed the exterior veneer, it was badly chipped, cracked and warped, I removed the pilasters along each side of the speaker opening and started gluing support braces to the sides.

The front part of the cabinet also had the veneer separted and needed to be glued, you can never have enough clips clamps and even masking tape.

The top was very bad, the center and one side got new walnut. I used contact cement for the small side and wood glue for the top. I find that with the wood glue I never get bubbles on large surfaces. I use a sheetrock knife to cut the veneer down to size once the glue has set overnight.

Next I started with veneering the sides, I first applied the large section of walnut veneer using Elmer's wood glue and then I applied the smaller pieces of veneer at the top and bottom, here you see the bottom piece glued and clamped, also noticed the top I have filled the missing veneer with plastic wood and sanded the surface in preparation of applying a new piece of veneer for the center top section of the cabinet.

The base had to be glued. at this point I am ready to start with the assembly of the various cabinet parts, excluding the camera rope,

and now I'm ready to finish the cabinet with clear oil stain, shellac, a Philco decal and a few coats of lacquer. Oh yea the last thing is to rid the chassis of rust and make it come to life.

Well finally the lacquer! the chassisand there you have it!