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Fisher console - worth restoring?

GOOD DEAL! Amp and Tuner look to be in good shape. Next is to get in the amp and check the caps, rectifier, resistors. Many of the caps are gonna be ERO lytics/paper in oil. Check for swelling on the ends. Any swollen??? REPLACE NOW. Then bring it up on a variac or Dimbulb, and kick back and enjoy the tunes.

Larry
 
for the power supply filter caps, Skykng helped me with an under chassis cap replacement - it works pretty slick and leaves the old multisection filter caps intact to keep the amp looking authentic.

I did the hexfred upgrade for the rectifier diodes as suggested by thebes and it really sounds nice -
 
70Salesguy. My 65 FUTURA VI's cabinet looked about that bad when I got it. Got a can of Howards Restore a Finish, 000 or 0000 Steel Wool and with a liberal application of Elbow grease, will clean up most of the scratches and knock down the old peeling and cracking laquer and get the finish to one color . Then Howards Feed and Wax, Multiple Coats let them soak in until dry, 3-5 coats until it no longer drys out in 15 minutes. Buff it up.

Wait a few weeks and then hit the top with a couple of coats of Minwax CLEAR Semi-Gloss Laquer.

Mine turned out really good. It's still got a couple of deep scratches but it matches the rest of the cabinet good. And I don't have to re-veneer the cabinet.

Larry
 
Thanks Larry, I started sanding down in one corner and it's coming along well. I'll post pics of the progress from time to time.

Thanks to everyone for their input.
 
I noticed the amp chassis says 480A and tuner says 490T. Shouldn't the amp be a 490A?

Also, the output tubes are (3) Sylvania and (1) GE, so I am assuming that these are replacements. Did Fisher make their own tubes?
 
Someone replaced at least one. Few manufacturers made their own, and I'm almost positive Fisher wasn't one of them. They may have bought tubes and branded them though, a lot of people did. If none of the other tubes are Fisher branded, then perhaps they did not. Small tubes are more likely to be originals, simply because they don't really wear out like output tubes do.
 
Fisher sourced their tubes from Telefunken, Amperex, Mullard, ITE, and others. And they were branded THE FISHER, with a country of origin on them. All of your OUTPUT tubes are replacements. If you have "THE FISHER" small tubes in it, all of the 12AX7's I have from 2 consoles are Tele's, and the rest have "MADE IN Britain" on them. the 6HU8's are Marked "ITE for FISHER" on them. so basically if it doesn't say FISHER or THE FISHER on it, it's a replacement tube. Tele's will have a DIAMOND or SQUARE in the center bottom surrounded by the pins.

The 62 supposedly had a 460A/460T combo. 63's supposedly had the 490A/490T combo. the 64's supposedly had the 481A/590T combo. 65's had a 49A/49T combo. The 49A is a Hybrid Tube / transistor Amp with 4 TO-3's. the 59A in the FUTURA and AMBASSADOR is the same amp with 8 transistors with an associated increase in wattage from 50W IHF to 75W IHF. But FISHER was known to mix and match amp/tuner combinations to clear out inventory or introduce newer amps/tuners in the middle of a production run. So you can have a 480A/490T and still be correct.

Larry
 
On the tuner, all tubes are original Fisher with the exception of one 12AX7 RCA. On the amp, the two 12AX7 tubes are Fisher, the output tubes are Sylvania (3) and GE (1).
 
So hows the restore coming on the custom Electra? Curious minds want to know.

I sanded down my Futura a few months ago and restained it. It's on another thread.

Larry.
 
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