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Stromberg Carlson Console

mikemurph6

mikemurph6

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
First time posting here! I picked up a SP-931 M console off craigslist for free several months ago and finally got the chance to refinish the console and have a professional look at the components. It has an ASR-220A amp, RS-501 speakers (2 separate speaker boxes which sit inside the console freely) and an unidentifiable Stromber- Carlson turntable.

The console has been stripped and refinished with Danish oil and looks great. I haven’t gotten my components back yet but the amp and speakers are supposedly looking good and should be repaired soon. The turntable has a bad idler wheel and he cannot find a replacement so I’m trying to figure out what to do. Should I put a new turntable in? Look for the part? I can’t even find the model number for this turntable so I’m pretty lost... I dont know whether this turntable is worth the effort which is why I’m leaning towards replacing it but id like to keep this console 100% original.

The amp has phono, aux and tuner inputs... I plan on installing a chromecast audio into the aux.

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Ace work. What a masterpiece! My congratulations.
index.php

I've been trying to find a decent S-C console/pull since this is similar
to what we had when I was a little kid. You sir are a wizard.

I'd put a new turntable in, esp if you intend on using it.
The old ones weren't too kind to records IIRC.
 
Archguy said:
Ace work. What a masterpiece! My congratulations.
index.php

I've been trying to find a decent S-C console/pull since this is similar
to what we had when I was a little kid. You sir are a wizard.

I'd put a new turntable in, esp if you intend on using it.
The old ones weren't too kind to records IIRC.
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Thank you! Any recommendation for the turntable? It would need a ceramic cartridge to use the phono input right?

I am very new to the vintage/ tube audio scene so any guidance would be appreciated!
 
Simple to hide a small solid state phono preamp in there so you can use a magnetic cartridge in a modern turntable.
Bill
 
Stromberg did use Glaser-Steers turntables in the previous year's consoles. It's identified only as "Stromberg Carlson 4-speed turntable" in the 1962 brochure. A Garrard RC-88 with magnetic cartridge went into higher-line consoles. I may have the Sams folder for the G-S, but it might not help much - would give the part numbers for parts you can't get...

And of course, if you haven't been to my website, go there for the instructions and service info for the ASR-220A and the Stromberg 1962 console brochure. I also have the specific instructions for the SP-930 to 960 consoles, though that's not on the website yet.
 
Tom Bavis said:
Stromberg did use Glaser-Steers turntables in the previous year's consoles. It's identified only as "Stromberg Carlson 4-speed turntable" in the 1962 brochure. A Garrard RC-88 with magnetic cartridge went into higher-line consoles. I may have the Sams folder for the G-S, but it might not help much - would give the part numbers for parts you can't get...

And of course, if you haven't been to my website, go there for the instructions and service info for the ASR-220A and the Stromberg 1962 console brochure. I also have the specific instructions for the SP-930 to 960 consoles, though that's not on the website yet.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the reply! I have been to your website and looked over the material, thank you for gathering and maintaining all of that information! Would you be able to email me the console and G-C information?
 
Actually looks like all three inputs are high-level, non equalized, so any of the 3 would do. The 220C added the gain and EQ for mag phono. Email me and I'll get to the scans within a week or so.
 
What did you do to refinish the cabinet?? I have a Danish Modern Maggie that is in excellent shape but I have a few vintage pieces of furniture, that is more like not so much. :)

And yes it looks outstanding ... thanks for saving it! :)
 
chip18sw said:
What did you do to refinish the cabinet?? I have a Danish Modern Maggie that is in excellent shape but I have a few vintage pieces of furniture, that is more like not so much. :)

And yes it looks outstanding ... thanks for saving it! :)
Click to expand...

This piece was veneered so I had to be very careful while stripping it so I used citri strip gel remover. Lather the stripper on with an old paintbrush, then use a plastic drape (or if it is small enough you can put it in a trash bag) to cover all the surfaces so the stripper doesn’t dry up. Wait about 48 hours then remove the plastic and scrape off all the mess with a plastic scrapper and plastic brush. You can repeat this process as many times as you need to get most of the stain and varnish off. I had to strip this piece twice.

Then lightly sand the veneer with 220-grit sandpaper and use a tack cloth to remove all dust.

Then comes the tricky part because if your piece is like mine the edges or the wood and inside of the cabinet is made with a solid soft wood (without Mahogany veneer), I’m not sure what kind of wood it is but my guess is poplar. For this area I had to sand down much finer and then I used mahogany gel stain to match the veneer as best as I could. I did three coats, lightly sanding and then wiping with a tack cloth between each coat. You could use any oil based stain for this but I like the simplicity and consistently of gel stain especially on a soft wood like poplar, which is difficult to stain evenly.

Next I used Watco natural Danish oil on the entire piece, very simple to use. Wipe it on until the whole surface is wet, leave it for 10-15 minutes then wipe it dry with a new rag/paper towel. I did three coats of this, sanding lightly with 400-grit and then using a tack cloth to remove dust in between coats. On the last coat I wet sanded with 600-grit paper.

In addition it is important to sand and stain in a different room so you don’t get dust all over the wet stain and oil.

If this was a kitchen table, coffee table or any furniture that will have a lot of use I would want to either use oil based clear poly or shellac over the Danish oil as a topcoat. I prefer shellac because it does not discolor as much as poly with exposure to the sun over the years. But because this piece won’t have anything on the surface I just used Danish oil, I can reapply every couple of years if it loses its shine.

You can read about the process until you head is spinning and everyone will tell you a different method but this one works for me!
 
mikemurph6 said:
You can read about the process until you head is spinning and everyone will tell you a different method but this one works for me!
Click to expand...
LOL well thanks, and that is why I asked, what you did. I've only used stripper to remove paint from furniture??

And then light sanding with steel wool and then Danish Oil. That works "most of the time" but I have a couple of pieces that are way beyond that. :)
 
Strippers will remove most types of finish. The CitriStrip is pretty good, just not as fast as whatever evil stuff is in ZipStrip. It also stops working once it dries out, hence the plastic wrap. I used it to get multiple layers of paint over varnish off the balusters and the handrail on my stairs at home.
 
So the turntable is a collaro c-60, not sure what to make of it or find much of anything on google!
 
I have a soft spot for old consoles and have refinished a couple myself, even a very, VERY old 1930's four foot tall AM radio. I like to put new stuff in old boxes, kinda like the guys that put Corvette suspensions on 1950's pickups.

You seem to have done a stellar job on that beauty!
 
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