Our Fisher console w/custom cabinet

Hello, all...

Finding this forum is like discovering that your stereo console has siblings and cousins. I started my research at the Fisher Consoles Website (http://fisherconsoles.com) - many thanks to TheRed1 for the guidance that got me here to AK.

My late father purchased the components from Fisher and then had a local cabinetmaker build the console at our house circa 1962. The result was a gorgeous 9-ft. long console with separate matching speaker enclosures. The console has 3 sections, each with double doors. The 500-B Fisher receiver and Garrard Type A turntable are in the middle, flanked by media storage cabinets that each have 2 levels of built-in dividers for LPs. Coincidentally, the space in front of the dividers is perfectly sized for VHS tapes and DVDs which had not been invented when the console was built. Needless to say, there are now heaps of both in there (more than in the photos).

The console has moved to new homes twice as kids grew up and moved out, and my folks downsized. About 10 years ago, one of my brothers removed the old speakers from the enclosures and placed new ones inside. Newer components were placed on top of the console because he couldn't imagine anyone still wanting to use the original components when he could provide "better" ones. My dad and that brother have both passed away, and I retired and moved back to be roommates with my mom. Before I would be able to assess the condition of the console components, I'd have to empty the cabinets and move it out into the room - no small feat - so that will have to wait until I have the ability to undertake such a project. It would be nice to hook it up and discover that the tubes only need to be reseated and a general cleaning done, wouldn't it?

I found a ziploc bag tucked in next to the turntable, into which my orderly and methodical dad had placed ALL of the original documentation for the components. Owners manuals, service manual for the 500-B, template and installations/connection instructions for the turntable, the same Atlantic Monthly article by John Conly about Avery Fisher that TheRed1 got with The Commander's Console, and various cards and notices from Fisher. If I can ever get them scanned and compiled into PDF documents, I will upload them to the AK database. In the meantime, if there is something anyone needs and a good old hard copy will suffice, contact me and I can take the papers to FedEx Office's copy machines.

For now, here are some pics...

That is an excellent first post. Your avatar is very cool, too. Is that your monogram in the center?

The photos you posted came out somewhat small so I uploaded a few to my Photobucket site so everybody can see the excellent craftsmanship evidenced in the cabinet and the amazingly pristine condition of your family's Fisher and Garrard. Also note the location of the ziplock bag legacy tucked back alongside the changer.

Not everyone is lucky enough to find such a complete assortment of original manuals and other interesting artifacts of that era. Still, it's not that uncommon to find Fisher consoles with every piece of paper that they left the dealership with intact. I think it says something about your typical Fisher buyer and the importance they placed on that purchase. I have found it's usually the better-cared-for Fishers that often come with complete documentation.

You don't happen to have any information on the cabinetmaker who created it, do you?

Beautifully constructed cabinet you have there. Your dad must have really enjoyed music to have that commissioned. Welcome to AK.

Welcome aboard. You're home! :yes:

Well, I reduced the pics because I thought they'd be rejected for being too large, but now that you've gotten some of the larger ones on, I'll fill in the others. And you're absolutely right, joel27, my dad loved music. In these pics of the interiors of the two side cabinets, you can see in the left one he had the different sections labelled with labelmaker tape. And in the top half of the right one, you can see some of his many boxed sets of LPs. These are beautiful collections, with artwork, many-paged full-sized booklets containing DETAILED info on all of the pieces, things I have never seen in most other albums.

Thanks for liking the avatar, TheRed1 - making it took WAY longer than any of the rest of this. I thought it would be most appropriate for this forum to make it an homage to the console (it's the door design), and it was trickier than I thought it would be to get the shape right. I was up half the night erasing a pixel here and adding a pixel there on the foundation graphic, but the silver lining is that I now have several work frames of usable transparent shapes for future use. The monogram in the center is a V done with a font called Carmencita.

My mom doesn't remember much about the cabinetmaker. He had a shop on Laguna Street in Coral Gables near Bird Road, and she thinks he was Swedish. He did beautiful work, but she doesn't know how my dad found him (if he saw the shop and stopped in, or learned of him from someone, etc.). If I ever learn of it, I will certainly follow up and see if he's still around. I've sent an email to some friends who went to high school in that neighborhood, and am keeping my fingers crossed that I will find someone with more information.

That's a beautiful console. Nice gear inside too, 500B is highly regarded among Fisher fans.

Welcome to AudioKarma and the world of Fisher!

I don't know if the cabinetmaker was Swedish, but that's nice Finnish work! ;^)