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Romeo Wolf said:
The PCB can actually slide out so you don't have to remove the string assembly. Besides, if you have to remove the dial string, it shouldn't be that complex to re-string unlike a lot of other cheaper transistor sets. You can also lift the antenna bracket up and away to get at the solder joints.

Here is a teardown of a later revision P780: http://earmark.net/gesr/p780.htm

As far as I know they are superb AM DX'ers when working properly, and will wipe the floor with many other transistor radios in terms of bass response and power output.
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That's a wonderfully detailed, step-by-step teardown guide. With a little practice at de-soldering and soldering you should be able to fix it.

When I first got into vintage tube audio about 20 years ago I consciously avoided buying old radios. I absolutely love the variety of designs / styles but there is nothing I would want to listen to on the airwaves today where I live - especially on AM. And, even if there was, I can't stand all the commercials.

I do have a couple of Zenith radios that followed me home from yard sales and flea markets but they don't work too well and a couple others that I picked up because the seller needed the money. They all have FM, though, which is how I justified purchasing them.

I also have some component style FM tube tuners (Sherwood S-3000), but it's been a while since I've used them, and several tube receivers (Sherwood S-8000, a Bell, a Harmon Kardon) but mostly I've concentrated on integrated amps and separates and now DIY builds.

I gotta ask . . . what do you listen to - especially on AM - in your area?
 
Unfortunately most of the "vintage" equipment needs a little bit of work, a $35 score might need a few hundred in repairs, we see it in the Walkman World all the time, everyone wants a Sony WM-D6. They spend silly money then find out there's only a handful of techs world-wide that still service them and it will be another big chunk of money to get the unit working properly

If you can service equipment, this is a very enjoyable hobby, if you can't, it becomes very expensive fast. Personally I try to fix anything broken, all the things on that list, there's very little where I'd call a tech but I don't think it's a good analogy. If the equipment on the list were "vintage" I'd bet most of the owners were servicing them.

I don't have any professional training, I bet a ton of guys on this forum started like me, your radio broke in the 70's, you got out a screwdriver, took it apart and started messing with it. Just like cars, your brakes started squeaking, the shop wanted hundreds of dollars an axle and you found out you could do it in 30 minutes with $5 pads from NAPA.

One of the larger benefits is you get some good brain exercise, I'm a big believer that work like this exercises your brain and gives you a little edge, who knows maybe it even adds on a little IQ.
 
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FlaCharlie said:
I absolutely love the variety of designs / styles but there is nothing I would want to listen to on the airwaves today where I live - especially on AM.
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kind of why I've gotten away from the radio thing myself. I love the looks, and I even enjoy working on them but once you have a perfectly functional pre-war radio, what the heck do you do with it? I have a transmitter so I can bring my own programming but thats not as fun, and honestly its just a convoluted way of getting worse sound vs just playing it on my stereo.
 
grillebilly said:
if your logic about having to learn because you have to to own it carries over, you would also need to be an appliance repairman, computer tech, auto mechanic, roofer, carpenter, etc.
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Which is, sadly, a necessity. I don't do ALL of these things, but I do some, and those that I cannot do, I read about how to do them correctly and I stay beside and watch the guy if it is at all possible (it was not possible with my cassette deck, the guy took two or three months to repair it). Obviously, they hate it, but I cannot trust them. Hitting a a knuckle with a hammer or not washing a wheel and not removing ALL old weights before re-balancing or breaking tiles or not being able to explain how the pipe will be connected.

Another day a guy came to fix the drain pipe, which required some slab work. He told me that he knew what he was doing and he was not going to explain all the minute details to me. I let him out, not giving him a job. He was furious saying that he drove 30 miles. I could not care less - if you cannot tell me what you are going to do and why, you are not getting to work on my stuff, feel free to keep your trade secrets to yourself.
 
Great, now the speaker decided to start buzzing along with the bass. It never did this before until last night. I suspect it's dust vibrating against the cone.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/fnmnmLRb9mDaCECs5

Unfortunately if I want to get access to the speaker, I'd have to remove the entire chassis assembly (including the dial cord) just to be able to remove it, and that would just be too tedious for me. Whack-A-Mole!
 
FlaCharlie said:
That's a wonderfully detailed, step-by-step teardown guide. With a little practice at de-soldering and soldering you should be able to fix it.

When I first got into vintage tube audio about 20 years ago I consciously avoided buying old radios. I absolutely love the variety of designs / styles but there is nothing I would want to listen to on the airwaves today where I live - especially on AM. And, even if there was, I can't stand all the commercials.

I do have a couple of Zenith radios that followed me home from yard sales and flea markets but they don't work too well and a couple others that I picked up because the seller needed the money. They all have FM, though, which is how I justified purchasing them.

I also have some component style FM tube tuners (Sherwood S-3000), but it's been a while since I've used them, and several tube receivers (Sherwood S-8000, a Bell, a Harmon Kardon) but mostly I've concentrated on integrated amps and separates and now DIY builds.

I gotta ask . . . what do you listen to - especially on AM - in your area?
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There's a couple of decent stations in my area. College based KBPS, plays older rock from smaller artists (1450Khz), and KQRR 1520Khz. Those are what I primarily listen to anyway on AM.
 
Romeo Wolf said:
There's a couple of decent stations in my area. College based KBPS, plays older rock from smaller artists (1450Khz), and KQRR 1520Khz. Those are what I primarily listen to anyway on AM.
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Glad that there's something you enjoy listening to in your area. I live in a college town (Gainesville, University of Florida) and for some reason there has never been a typical "college radio station" here where student DJs play an interesting mix of music. Well, there was a low power station for a while but it could only be heard in the downtown area.

This, despite the fact that we've always had a vibrant live music scene. Our most prominent musical export being the late Tom Petty. We attended the same High School and, when I was a UF student in the early 70s, I was part of a student group that put on concerts and he played for us regularly, as did about a dozen other members of the R&R Hall of Fame.

We all grew up listening to local AM Top 40 radio, then there was a "progressive" FM station for a while in the 70s, but now it's all commercials and corporate programming. Sad. Tom's song, The Last DJ, pretty much sums it up!
 
Those old radios have a million screws of different sizes, no matter how good your memory is you won't remember and you'll never put it together at the end of the night. Take a ton of photos, zip-lock bags are perfect for storing parts, and mark where all the little washers came from. The dial cord will be a huge head-ache, there might be a technique to those but they take me forever to get back working properly.

Like I said, it's great for your brain but also anger management!
 
They should broadcast the Olympics during an election, I can only imagine how great the commercials would be!
 
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