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Found a Fisher Custom Sixty/360 with Stephens & Jensen!

zim bida

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
Hi All,

I wanted to add to the knowledge base here on a pretty rare console I was lucky to find recently. I am not sure yet what I will end up doing with it, but because there are so few of them, and there seem to be a few variants I thought I'd document it here for posterity.

A little while back I saw a listing some distance away for a Fisher console, looking at the photo's I realized what it was - unfortunately it was quite some distance from me and because of family health issues I wasn't able to go get it, but I happened to know a good friend was going to be that way and with lots of lots of cajoling I was able to convince him and his girlfriend to secure the console and bring it back.

The Fisher had been the seller's father's and had been in the family since purchased new, in a medium sized town's lawyer's office on the square near the courthouse. He indicated that he was getting sound output but only static - I was happy to hear that that might be relatively minor and that everything is probably still in good restore worthy condition.

Here are a few pictures:

The cabinetry is really quite amazing - I feel like I should be donning a smoking jacket and getting out a pipe and wingback chair
00C0C_cMyakcwp0FG_0lM0t2_1200x900.jpg

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From what I've read here, the "z-matic" control on this one dates it to 1955
20200925_063843.jpg


turntable is a Garrard RC80M, this looks like it will need a little work
20200925_064251.jpg

The amplifier and power supply are the slightly later 360A and 360P, and the tube compliment seems to match the one mentioned here:
https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/the-fisher-ambassador-series-console-hs-360.725732/
20200925_064025.jpg

Now, here's where it gets a little interesting, popped open the speaker compartment - I have to say there was a great degree of suspense, as I knew these came stock with a Jensen g601.....Nope, the owner had gone for what I understand from reading here was the upgrade apparently, and had a Stephens 206XA - there was however a Jensen crossover in use.
20200925_065322.jpg

Later going back to do a little cleaning, I looked a little more closely and that Jensen crossover made more sense - hiding in the cabinet was an Jensen RP-302!
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In reading all of the threads here, this was the first mention of a separate super tweeter being added in one of these that I had seen. From the mounting plate of the Jensen, it does seem as this was a factory installation and not added by the owner. Do folks know if this was something that was a factory possibility?

I've read through all the threads here and anywhere else I can find on these consoles and would love love to learn more - it does seem as if there are only a handful of them out there - I'm guessing that a fair percentage of those that were made have been chopped up for their constituent parts, so I'm glad I was able to "rescue" this one from that fate, had it been bought by a local flipper/entrepeneur.

I've added an album to my media here with a few more pictures, and will add to that as I take more in folks are interested, it can be seen here:

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index...custom-sixty-360-chassis-stephens-206xa.1580/
 
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I saw this over on Facebook last week when you posted. VERY NICE! It's possible that it was built originally with the Jensen's and the Stephen's was added by the dealer and the Jensen tweeter was left in instead of putting a blank plate in. In any event go up to the stickies and look up the thread called "Fisher consoles 1945-1959" and you'll find some stuff on the Custom 60. There is also a thread called "compendium of FISHER owners" and IIRC there are a couple of Custom 60 owners listed.

The 1957 Ambassador is probably the progeny of the Custom 60, as it has the 360A, 360p and 360R, but has a RC-98 instead fo the RC-80. The platter can be re-felted .......google " Phonograph platter re-felting". Lots of how to's.

If you can locate the manuals for the power supply, amp and Tuner/preamp, rebuild them. replace all capacitors (except the ceramics) and check all resistors, replacing all out of spec by 5%. (most all of these are 10% resistors). Test all the tubes and replace those that are weak. Use a variac with a DBT for initial testing.

Keep us in the loop.
 
Thanks Larry - I remember reading that the z-matic was only used in 1955, I'm not sure what that is based upon. Does the Ambassador still have the "Custom Sixty" written on the tuner or was that replaced?
 
Z-Matic was very short lived in the larger scheme of things. It was mainly used IIRC to change damping on the speakers. As for the Ambassador having "Custom Sixty" on the dial, I'm not sure. I wouldn't bet either way on that.
 
The 1957 Ambassador, does not say "Custom Sixty" on the front panel. It says "Ambassador Series". At least, that's what mine says. It's a stamped metal plate.

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