The resurrection of Fisher 400 SN27949P

Folks,
This is a tale of honest efforts, a seller and a buyer, both well meaning people, good communication, poor packing, an insurance claim, resolution and finally, repair and redemption.
It's about Fisher 400 serial number 27949P.
One day Fisher 400 #27949P made it into the hands of the premier Fisher expert back in the day, the Fisher Doc.

The doc worked his magic on it, either on assignment from an AKer, or he then sold it to an AKer after working his magic on it. Capacitors were changed from Erofoils to another cap type (unidentified but consistently used), resistors and .047uf caps were changed in the tuner, the output tubes got 10 ohm cathode resistors, the selenium rectifier and first stage filter caps (C60 & C61) were replaced, and insulated can cap (I think C56) was replaced, as were diodes CR2 and CR3, and a few other odds and ends. Basically all electrolytics except two multisection can caps and all mylar coupling caps were replaced.
The unit ran cool and fine for the AKer, got used until it wasn't, and then it sat idle, lonely, and probably stacked with other gear, tickled by 8 legged things walking around inside its chassis.

After much deliberation and with excellent timing, said AKer decided to post it.
Audiodon657, your humble writer, cast his rod into the bartertown waters and was the first to reply to the posting, winning the beautiful 400 in a cabinet, with a set of EH 7868s and a spare set of Fisher Sylvania 7868s. The seller asked how it should be shipped, and your humble writer suggested still bolted into the cabinet, with most tubes in it. Never had any unit been damaged coming through this writer's threshold. The seller promised to send the 7868s in a different box . . . fortunately.

The AKer said goodbye to his 400 while probably looking forward to getting his replacement, brought it in cabinet to the UPS store, told them to wrap it up, to put styrofoam on the top and bottom, paid for insurance and asked them to ship it to Boston, where Audiodon would give this already updated unit to his young adult daughter for Christmas. She and her boyfriend had been ogling his gear after a summer cookout.
That's were our story really begins.
The shipping was, shall we be polite and say, insufficient for a package of the weight and size of Fisher 400 #27949P. One single loop of bubble wrap all around sandwiched with top and bottom styrofoam and stuffed into an oversized box, and not completely filling the box so the load could shift, started the expectant 400 on its journey to its new home.
Well, the 400 must have been stacked on a box that collapsed because of the weight and slipped to the floor in one of those dreaded H frames the 18 wheelers tow, because when it arrived at its new home, it had a few bruises. Note the impression the front panel made on the box in the first picture. That was bolted into a case!
The thumbnail pictures will tell the story. End chapter 1.[30]

:tears::tears::tears::tears:

Noooooooooo!

I hope this story has a happy ending...

Oiy. That's ugly!

Well, as a testament to Fisher quality, it appears that 400 #37663 still has a straight faceplate and chassis. And the dial glass survived too. The smashed knobs and the bent treble and bass pots are the major issues that I see. The bend in the subframe that the faceplate mounts to looks pretty nasty. Looks like the cabinet can be saved though, and I think Don will make this Fisher nice again. Too bad she had a rough trip. :tears:

Jailtime said:

Well, as a testament to Fisher quality, it appears that 400 #37663 still has a straight faceplate and chassis. And the dial glass survived too. The smashed knobs and the bent treble and bass pots are the major issues that I see. The bend in the subframe that the faceplate mounts to looks pretty nasty. Looks like the cabinet can be saved though, and I think Don will make this Fisher nice again. Too bad she had a rough trip. :tears:

Click to expand...

Whadda ya think Kyle ? He shoulda let me pack it ! :yes:
I too,hope this story has a happy ending !
SJ

Audiodon- are you planning to restore it or just keep it as a parts unit?

I might have some spare NOS dual gang tone controls for it if you want to replace them. You can contact me by PM (my moniker at America Online) if you want to try them...I am not far from you in Newton.

Sorry for your loss.

Before...

Looking forward to your restoration, Don. Btw, my instructions to the UPS store were to use styro-board on all six sides of the box and sufficiently bubble wrapped so that it would not shift or sustain corner damage. Sadly, a new-hire did not follow instructions. I have shipped many items over the past 10 years at this same location and never had any damage, including very expensive and heavy guitar and audio amps. On a brighter note, the manager of the store was very professional throughout the claims process, and the new-hire reprimanded.

Jailtime said:

Well, as a testament to Fisher quality, it appears that 400 #37663 still has a straight faceplate and chassis. And the dial glass survived too. The smashed knobs and the bent treble and bass pots are the major issues that I see. The bend in the subframe that the faceplate mounts to looks pretty nasty. Looks like the cabinet can be saved though, and I think Don will make this Fisher nice again. Too bad she had a rough trip. :tears:

Click to expand...

I think the faceplate may have been twisted. Look at the fourth picture. Hard to tell for sure. Amazing that the glass survived. Whew!

Your 400s sad tale is almost exactly as mine was. Sept 27th, 2008 I bought a nice 400 off the auction site. The seller ask for packing instructions and I told him basically the same as you requested. My 400 was tossed into a bag of peanuts, then placed in a box that was too big for the bag. When my box arrived I could hear pieces rolling around inside as I brought it in the house. :tears: Long story short the Fishers are built like tanks. The bent frame behind the faceplate is fixed along with all the other scrapes and bruises. The 400 doesn't show any signs of its rough journey.

It's the times we are living in. You would think that a buisness who's buisness was to pack and ship stuff, would know how to pack and ship stuff. It's like nobody gives a **** these days.:thumbsdn: Sorry this had to happen to two great AK'ers.

Never, ever ship a tube Fisher receiver mounted in the case. If the package takes any kind of a hard impact from the side, the chassis will slam sideways because of its weight, and it will take the bottom piece of wood with it. Unfortunately, unless the entire cabinet is very rigidly packed inside the box, the sides and top of the cabinet don't move with the bottom.

The cabinet is usually "disassembled" by the impact.

Audiodon, what are your plans for the 400?

Stephen J said:

Whadda ya think Kyle ? He shoulda let me pack it ! :yes:
I too,hope this story has a happy ending !
SJ

Click to expand...

Yeah, the 400 you sent could have survived a nuclear blast.

JonL said:

I think the faceplate may have been twisted. Look at the fourth picture. Hard to tell for sure. Amazing that the glass survived. Whew!

Click to expand...

I think the twist we see is from that "subframe" being bent back. Which makes it all the more amazing that the glass survived. Hopefully Don will solve this pressing question.

Dear reader,
After finishing that masterpiece “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” late last night, and dispensing with many unmentionables in my dreams, I am ready to continue the chapter by chapter tale of the saga leading to the resurrection of Fisher 400 SN27949P. A chapter a day until completion is the goal of your humble storyteller.

Chapter 2: Insurance
As you recall, dear reader, in our last chapter, we discovered that beings outside our humble abodes can derail our best intentions. They say that failure can be instructive, and hopefully this unfolding missive can perform the functions of instructing the reader as a seller on proper packaging, the need for insurance, and proper care, and instructing the reader as a buyer about why paying for proper shipping is an outlay that should be considered and factored into shipped purchases.

The aforementioned Aker, who this writer would consider the kind of person he’d want to invest time with if geography were irrelevant, was informed back in late September 2009 that there was shipping damage. The seller was sympathetic and suggested that an insurance claim against The Brown Truck Company was in order. He informed the shipper of the pending claim and the shipper stated that it was their intention to retrieve our poor shaken Fisher and examine it.

The author of this tome examined the complement of tubes in this Fisher 400 and asked the seller if he had any experience with insurance claims, whether either party would ever see said 400 again, and if not, should some tubes be swapped out with less worthy substitutes before Fisher 400 SN27949P was sent to the crusher or to rot in some faceless warehouse in nowhereland. A complement of green letter pinched long plate JAN Sylvania 12AX7s and 5751s were scattered about the packaging and tube sockets, and yours truly felt it would be a waste for them not to be used, but ethically and by experience, neither the seller or the buyer knew what the final disposition of SN27949P would be. Hence we agreed that the unit should return to the point of departure exactly as it had arrived at its Northeastern US destination.

Four weeks later, the seller received notice that he would be receiving an insurance settlement for the amount of the original insurance of said Fisher. End of Chapter 2.
[30]

jaymanaa said:

It's the times we are living in. You would think that a buisness who's buisness was to pack and ship stuff, would know how to pack and ship stuff. It's like nobody gives a **** these days.:thumbsdn: Sorry this had to happen to two great AK'ers.

Click to expand...

this was my Best Buy experience last Saturday...ONE adult in the store, and a bunch of moseying zombies. I wasn't called sir once, but I was called dude by an upper teen individual.

Don, great story, It's like the adventures of mixerman ...the adventures of tube restorer.

Chapter 3: A deal and further injury

As you recall, dear reader, in our last chapter, a settlement was reached on the subject of this story, our humble Fisher 400 SN27949P.

Yet many weeks later again, our fellow AKer, AKA the seller, informed your humble writer that a settlement check and the receiver had been acquired. He commenced to ask what yours truly would like to do now. How he got both the check and the goods can only be because of the good relationship between the shipping manager and the seller.

Having thought a third time about it, your humble talespinner decided that he’d like to have another try at the Fisher. After all, it had never been powered up and none of us had any idea of whether the thing would even still work. An agreement was worked out between seller and buyer to split the insurance check, and split the shipping back to yours truly. So it was to be.

Yet another week or two passed and lo; the aforementioned Fisher King arrived back at the humble abode of this author.

Not to be outdone by the first shipping experience, the second shipping experience also went badly. Yours truly watched the shipper, who was not the usual deliveryman because shippers seem to go on vacation prior to the holiday rush, grab the box from the driver’s seat, pull it forward from between the seats until it dropped onto the aluminum floor of The Brown Truck with a thud, and a grimace with fatigue, his face otherwise a gray pallid mask of indifference. The unmentionable then groaned, picked up said package, stumbled out of the door and stepped down to the pavement with a groan as if atrophied leg muscles receiving a rigor mortised workout did not like to stretch, and delivered the former weakened King into the loving arms of yours truly. This humble writer then dispensed with the head of said brown truck driver with his trusty scimitar, lest the unmentionable enter the domicile, disembowel and consume the entrails of all members of the household. (This last sentence did not really happen, but was imagined and is in the spirit of the last novel read by the author).

The damage tally in the second round included the dial glass, the cabinet, a bent cabinet screen, a bent front panel, one 12AX7 torn from its socket and crushed between the front panel and the brown panel behind it and a festoon bulb.

As you examine the damage dear reader, please note that the shoe in the sameolebox that displays how much shifting the load can do is the shoe of the author, and is a size 12.

End of Chapter 3.
Next time: The resurrection begins. Also, it is worthy to note that the serial number is wrong and that is the author's fault. It is 27949P. Corrections complete.
[30]

That is, without question, one of the most catastrophically bad packing jobs I have ever seen.

Ever.

What's with the shoe?:scratch2: I saw my UPS man shove my wife's brand new Dell computer down the steps of his truck with his foot. It flip over twice on the way down. I guess if you don't trust your packing enough to drop it from your roof, it ain't good enough. I'm getting ready to start packing a fragile power amp that weighs ~50 lbs. I'm seriously considering building a wooden crate.:yes:

Fisherdude said:

That is, without question, one of the most catastrophically bad packing jobs I have ever seen.

Ever.

Click to expand...

Yep. Again, a new employee at the store dropped the ball. I took the Fisher back to the same UPS store, where I again instructed the clerk to repackage it with styro-board on all sides and enough bubble wrap so the unit would not shift. Again, the instructions were ignored. They used the same f*cking box they originally shipped it in! Needless to say, I was livid.

Here's my response to manager:

------ Original Message ------
Received: 07:19 AM PST, 11/20/2009
From: kenneth *********<********@bellsouth.net>
To: store****@theupsstore.com
Subject: shipping damage...again!

Attn: *****

Dear *****:

Please see the attached e-mail. On 11/13/09 I reshipped this item and paid for a new box and packaging. ***** was the clerk. I instructed her to use a new box and to use styroboard on all sides, along with additional bubble wrap, and was charged for such. It was shipped in the same box and packaging that led to your store paying for shipping damage previously!

I've been a customer of your location for almost 10 years, and have shipped many packages with no damage, until this one. I don't blame UPS. I blame your employees who don't seem to be able to follow instructions. I'll be in this afternoon to ship a few items and will bring a copy of the email along with the receipt. Do I have to insist that you package all of my shipments so that they arrive without damage?

Regards,

Ken *******
901-***-****

His repsonse:

Dear Ken,

I apologize for this incident. Thank you for bringing this to my attention
for this is unacceptable. I will meet with all employees on this to ensure
nothing like this ever happens again. I appreciate you being a loyal customer
and I am willing to help you in any way with this matter. I will be here all
day today so I will see you this afternoon.

My apologies,
***** ********

On a brighter note, if there is one to be found in this fiasco, is that (hopefully) the packing standards at this location will improve. Granted, the manager has new staff, but he was to blame, and took full responsibility for not training his staff properly.

I have to hand it to Don. He remained a complete gentleman throughout, where many, including myself, may have lost their cool.:thmbsp:

Ken