400 comes home, FULL CIRCLE......................

[larryderouin]

KVFLYER would probably like this one, as he worked at E.J. Korvette's as a teen in the Audio Dept.

I picked up a very Early Serial # 400 Sunday in 1 shop molested condition (Factory Authorized shop), job done in '64. Bought it from the original owners son. Serial # 15833E. I checked the transformers and Can Caps and gave him a preliminary factory build date from May to Aug. '63. and a buy date of Dec1 to Jan 30. as he stated it was sometime around Christmas time. The owners sister remembered that the owner, his wife, the sister and her husband had stopped at the E.J. Korvette's store in Glen Burnie, purchased the 400 with speakers (lafayette coaxials (no cases), and a turntable, the sister thinks it was a garrard, then went to the sister's house in Catonsville for the night as the owner lived in Vienna Va..

Son stated that he remembered it playing in the living room daily until about 1980 when it was put in a closet. Dad had gotten some Solid State gear.

So then he brings out a folder of documents for the 400. On the front of the Owners manual the owner had written the purchase date (DECEMBER 14, 1963) and the Serial #. As we are going thru the manuals (ORIGINAL 10001-19999 SERVICE MANUAL) I hit upon the Pamphlet's from FISHER for the 400. On it was the E.J.KORVETTE's Stamp. Another pamphlet had a bunch of prices scribbled on it without designations but two stood out. 400----$263.49; 500c $310.79.

Well, E.J. KORVETTE's closed some 20+ years ago, and the store is now a DICKS Sporting goods and an Office Depot. But the FISHER WILL live on.

He gave me some worn out 7868's.None of them would come up to even 10ma @ -8vdc on my good 400. And they redplated at that. So I have some more plinkers for when I go out in the country and get some target practice in.

Overall it's in pretty good shape. The chassis looks to just be dusty dirty and should clean up very nicely.
The only change underneath that would corelate with the letter from the owner to FISHER in Sept 1964 is 2 of the output coupling cap were changed from ERO-FOL's to the BLACK Dog Turds. These are splitting and cracking. All 4 will get replaced.

It's gonna be a while getting this one on the road. I ripped 80% of my tax refund $ from my wallet for this one.
So It''ll have to wait on the big stuff until I get some money for that. But in the meantime I can do 80% of the small stuff so I'll have stuff to do between this and the AMPEX 1270 I got last week.

Some Pic's















As the 10001-19999 manual out there in the free sites (Including AK-DATABASE) is a piece of crap, I'll redo the scan to pdf and make a legible copy. It should be out soon. Also the letters will be scanned and sent out to THERED1 for archival storage.
Larry

 

[larryderouin]

The unit is still in as purchased condition except for the clean spot around the serial #. And it came with 9 Fisher Branded TELE smooth plate 12ax7's. One Fisher Branded 6AU6 and the rest fo the IF/RF tubes GE(guy had good taste). a Tele EM-84 and a FISHER branded EM-84 (no "A" on either tube). All the worn out outputs are 4 Raytheon Branded and 2 Fisher Branded.

 

[RS Steve]

Very cool Larry, yours is very close to my early 400 15756E. Mine was found among all the old Fisher test equipment that came from the original NY plant, not sure the history of mine but it sure is interesting.

 

[gadget73]

Very cool, looks like its in real nice shape. Couple of knob brights and a switch and it'll look mint. If you need a switch, I have a parts TA-600 that may be able to donate one for you.

 

[Dave451]

Good stuff, Larry! Keep us appraised of how it's coming along. I've been pulling together a plan for a making a cabinet for my 400 using the info from a couple AK threads and some surplus cherry cabinet wood. So, moving from electronics to woodworking? We'll see.

 

[dcgillespie]

Very cool, Larry! And I was worried that you didn't have anything to do to keep yourself out of trouble......

Dave

 

[larryderouin]

Steve; less than 100 difference. Bets are they were made on the same day, worse case 2-3 days apart.

Dave; It keeps me from going INSANE, taking care of the wife. Although it may not be enough...

Thain. PM INBOUND!

 

[bhamham]

Way to go, Larry! Looking forward to your thread when you start working on it. Bruce

 

[hjames]

E.J. Korvettes - wow!
Very nice capture, Larry - Looks real good - keep the faith!

 

[larryderouin]

Thanks guys. Seems that the Washington area I-66 corridor is a FISHER magnet for me. With the Exception of the Executive, the Futura and, the X-101-b, every console and separate I've gotten over the years has come from an area bordered by !-495, I-66, the Potomac, and a N-S line 10 miles West of I-495. I'm not surprised really as a lot of old money is from that area. Thar's Gold in them thar hills!

 

[AlTinkster92]

Yep Larry, I grew up in McLean and my Dad's FM1000 is floating around there somewhere.........Nice catch on your new 400!

 

[Kingfisher]

Thanks guys. Seems that the Washington area I-66 corridor is a FISHER magnet for me. With the Exception of the Executive, the Futura and, the X-101-b, every console and separate I've gotten over the years has come from an area bordered by !-495, I-66, the Potomac, and a N-S line 10 miles West of I-495. I'm not surprised really as a lot of old money is from that area. Thar's Gold in them thar hills!

Another one???? Pretty soon you're gonna be catching up to RS Steve in creating that Fisher museum.

I may have to make a detour to that area when I visit my brother in Dunkirk. Unfortunately, it's not very accessible from East of DC given the traffic nightmare..

That insulated cap looks almost as bad as mine did. You might want to try Hayseed for a replacement. Mine looks pretty good:

 

[larryderouin]

This post was done over a 4 hour period from a little after 10am to approx 2:30pm

King. Stuff 9 Fisher, and 6 other brand consoles in a 1000 sq ft Ranch plus about 15 tube and SS Receivers, asst'd TT's. Tape Decks, and speakers to boot. It's a wonder the wife hasn't buried me in one of the consoles yet. But I have nowhere the gear that RS STEVE has. As I once told her, "what would you rather I do, work on this stuff and be at home where you can keep an eye on me, or go out and act like a 1960's sailor on a 9 month WESTPAC Cruise hitting my 1st liberty port. Getting Drunk, Laid, possibly getting the clap, and coming back to the ship broke, and looking like I had been in the bar fight to end all bar fights."???? She saw the logic and just keeps her pie hole closed.

Tom at Hayseed has made some well done improvements on the FISHER Line of Can Cap kits. He now offers an option for the BIAS CAP. Either 2 1000uf/50v radials for those of us who like to build the circuit that way or an insulated can that looks and fits like the original. He's made this option available for all the kits that use this setup. And I love that #1 Can cap with the 1st section that was 500v. It's now a 625v cap which will handle pretty much any surge short of a dead short. I've been working off and on with him on getting the cap lineups correct for the last few years. FISHER used to orient the sections counter clockwise, which is backwards from almost everyone else, and confused a lot of people. He does it the same way for FISHER gear, as it's historically correct, but most everyone knows the orientation is backwards now.

The one's that are not shown on the FISHER PAGE are available. He'll custom make then for you. And some units use the same caps as some of the shown units. So if you have a unit not shown, just email him with each caps values and voltages top to bottom and he'll take care of the rest, and add it to the database.


The junk on the outside of my cap is dust hanging on to little clumps of the adhesive from the can cap. Easily cleaned up. Someone had taken the cover off at one time. Nothing visually wrong with the cap, no release from insides so I'm gonna put it on the DBT and VARIAC and bring it up slowly with no output tubes in it and see what happens. gotta check the trannies with the meter before and as I go along. I don't anticipate any problems (crossing fingers.)

Broke out the Scrubbing Bubbles, a 1" brush and paper towels. Removed the tubes. Srayed the chassis with the scrubbing bubbles and wited for them to subside. Scrubbedthe tight spots with the brush, and then went at it with the brush on all areas. The dust and dirt was consistant with sitting in a closet upstairs since 1980. It came off easily. The plating on the top ofthe chassis is the best I've seen on a 400 so far. It's a fairly bright, satin finish, with minimal striping or other "defects". The lettering is ALL INTACT, No pitting or corner lifting of lettering. A coat of Carnauba wax and it's done as I'm not one to try and polish it to USMC Shoe standards.

BEFORE



AFTER
.

I don't know why it was done but a large inline rocker switch was installed about 1/2 way down the wall cord, and the plug was replaced. I've checked the switch for operation and it switches off and on with a healthy click with some resistance as it clicks. Continuity or lack thereof thru the Original switch is good both on and off, so the cord switch goes along with the original cord. I have a spare downstairs (I think), if not I'll use a 9 ft extension cord with a polarized plug, a CL-80, and modify the switch to use both contacts.

 

[dcgillespie]

Typical scenario for older folks: They listen to the same station at the same volume, everyday at the same time, with the receiver in an inconvenient place to access the front panel. What to do? Route the power cord where you can get to it, and install an inline power switch.

Super cleanup job!

Dave

 

[audiodon]

Nice one Larry. More tomorrow.

 

[Sam08861]

Nice looking 400! Your work area looks like mine. The power bars are a fantastic idea I intend to copy. Will be less messy than me eating my dinners over the keyboard and other half finished equipment in the 'workshop'

Don't think I've eaten dinner at the table with the wife since I got addicted to fixing these 'vintage' units back up. Having the power bars should allow me to avoid 3-5 minutes of filling my plate and sharing pleasantries with the better half or having to balance a plate of half eaten food on a pile of tonearm wire, scrap wood, solder bits, heat shrink tubing, bad tubes and extracted capacitors while picking at food with a sharpened screwdriver or makeshift IF alignment 'chopsticks.'

 

[larryderouin]

Don; Glad to see you up and getting online. Keep it coming, Bud!

Sam; The "PowerBars" box contains 6 junk 7868 tubes I got from the seller. I usually grab a can of Beefaroni or Mini Ravioli's and eat them cold while working on gear. Been eating them cold since I was a kid in scouts. Lot's of Cold camps the 1st night in the decades before "heat-tabs". Otherwise it was C-rations from the surplus store. Would you eat 25 year old Beans and Weenie's??? Me either.

Larry

 

[vendo81]

Very nice 400 Larry! It sure cleaned up nice. Great to find it with the cabinet too!!

 

[audiodon]

I have seen brown turd output coupling caps in a Fisher 400 before and they were obviously stock components.
I see the 400 as a cost reduced 500-B. In that spirit, I think the company was not above using boxes of old stock components found in a warehouse as long as they were within spec.
That is a nice one.

 

[larryderouin]

It finally on the bench. Phono is done, as are the tone amp caps. Hayseed cans up top, new 330 ohm resistors on the 3 section. New resistors on the 4 section. Replace and moved the 1.2Kohm 7w with a 10W to btwn the insulated cap and the 4 section cap. Btwn the tube heat and the heat from this resistor which fisher mounted right down in the weeds, the insulation on a lot of the wiring right around it's old location is quite crispy. As long as the wiring's not disturbed it'll be fine. Screen resistors are 1/2 done, and I have to dismount the OPT's to install 2 - 3 terminal terminal strips for the grid returns and IBAM. Once that's done I'll rebuild the bias supply and rectumfrier. New matched 7868's from Jim McShane are on hand, as are 12ax7LPS for the phono section. Sylvania Old stock for the rest. Tuner tubes are all Sylvania Old Stock.

One thing I'm looking for is a Loudness switch. Gadget sent me a switch from a TA 600 parts unit but the handle is flush with the front panel. Mine had a broken switch handle. It'll do for now but I'd like to get a long switch (brown handle) from a 400,500c,800c if anyone has a spare. PM me with details. EDIT: Switch located and enroute from another AK'er. Thank you.

Had a hell of a time locating the MONO De-Emphasis resistor. It's in a different location on the early version vs. the late version. I forgot where it was as the last 5 I've worked on are late model, and the one Audiodon sold me back in 2010 was an early one. On the early version its one terminal to the right of the 8uf 50v cap in the discriminator circuit. On the late version it's located just off the MPX chassis.

Last thing to do before power up is to change the 2 Stereo De-Emphasis resistors to 16K from 27K.