1937 Philco 37-650X AM- Shortwave radio
Update: Sept. 27, 2009
I have begun working on the chassis. I am in the planning stage for the chassis
restoration. Its nice to have a game plan for a chassis as complicated as this one
is. Being this is a AM and Shortwave it has a lot of extra goodies. It is already
apparent this chassis will require a 100% re-wire, all the capacitors will have to
be rebuilt in thier original tubes, cans, and blocks, and i'm sure all of the power
resistors will have to be replaced. I will begin with the dc rectifier transformer
as it is the only piece requiring paint and winter is very very close.
Update: March 7, 2010
We have accomplished a lot on this chassis, somewhere around 1000 man
hours into it now and a long way to go. I realize this chassis did not look
this bright and shinny when it was new, but with time the steel and
aluminum will oxidize again. The chassis is about 90% complete now.
I still have to do the 4 tube shields and begin replacing the assembly
production marks. I have yet to restore the speaker, it is in pretty bad
shape and will take a long time to restore. Check out the new pictures
in the last picture show.
Update May 1, 2010
I have aquired a NOS in the box replacement 11" Philco speaker cone.
It only took 2 years to find one, now I can rebuild the original speaker
and the sound should be sweet..
Well Here is the latest barn find, I found this one rotting away in an old barn in Canastota,NY
on Feb 8, 2008. A 1937 Philco 37-650X am/shortwave radio. Not an extreemly valuble radio, but
after 300 hours on the cabinet this fall it was worth the $25.00 I paid for this radio. Although
I received it in pretty rough shape, It has already provided me with a lot of fun. I have located
I already have a full tube compliment for this radio. The really bad side, The speaker cone is
pretty much destroyed. It will be either replace or recone the speaker. On the good side, its all
here, even the original knobs. There were over 30,000 of this model made (in the X cabinet)
and sold new in 1937 for a whopping $100.00 ...... Between the 2 models of this radio, over
69,000 units were made with this chassis.
There are 4 slide shows:
First, The pictures as it arrived from the barn ( barn crud included )
Second, The finished cabinet, I just enjoy looking at this radio ( art deco is so cool )
Third, The radio chassis, get a tetanus shot and dig in.........
Forth, The current pics of the semi-restored chassis (looking better)
I will post many more pictures as this project moves on.
1937 Philco as it arrived from the barn in Canastota, NY
The Finished Cabinet
I spent about 300 hours to bring back the cabinet, It was completely disassembled !!, this seemed
to take a long time. I broke it down to the base, left and right side, center, lower center, and the radio
shelf pieces. All the parts were refinished and then the cabinet was put back together. New correct
reproduction speaker cloth from the good people at www.radiodaze.com was applied to a reproduction sound board. The veneer on the left and right tops was destroyed and could not be saved. New walnut
veneer was applied to the left and right top. The new tops were shaped in place by hand and look really
nice. A really nice radio just to look at, It will be even better with a restored chassis to go with it.
The Philco 37-650 Chassis (before)
Ok, get your tetanus shots, these are the before pics of the 37-650 chassis.
This will be the next chassis on the bench as soon as the Bremer Tully is finished
and I obtain a new hazmat suit for this one.........More to follow
The Philco 37-650 Chassis (after)
The Chassis has received a 100% rewire, All new resistors, All new
capacitors in the original cans, bakelite blocks, and all the original
paper tubes. All of the decals for the chassis have been recreated
but I will not apply them until it is back in the cabinet. I will not go
into great detail about the restoration of this chassis until it is all
back in the cabinet and working again sometime this summer.
I am getting closer, I really want to listen to this radio.
More to follow, give me a few more months on this one