Background. New for the 1928-1929 season was the Radiola 60 series of superheterodyne circuit radios (Douglas, 1991), engineered by W. L. Carlsons team at General Electric and George Beers team at Westinghouse by the summer of 1927. This was the first truly modern superheterodyne design with one-dial tuning (using the same bathtub condenser designed for the Radiola 16, 17, and 18), AC tubes, chassis construction, and wire antenna instead of the bulky loop. Released officially on 13 August 1928 (with the RCA 103 Tapestry speaker released four days later), there were about 135,000 made. Sev-eral Radiola 60 models were also sold with slight cabinet variations under the Brunswick and the Gray-bar labels. The receiver employs 9 tubes (rectifier, two tuned radio frequency amplifiers, oscillator, 1st detector (mixer), two intermediate frequency amplifiers, 2nd detector, and power amplifier); see McMa-hon (1981) and RCA Service Division (1931). This radio represented the first AC superheterodyne ra-dio released by RCA (McMahon, 1972). Excellent photographs of a presumably restored model and advertising copy are available in Douglas (1991). Very good color advertising copy is available in Johnson and Johnson (1989) and an excellent color photo of the RCA 103 speaker appears on the cover. Excellent black and white photographs of the Radiola 60 and the RCA 103 speaker are available in Grinder and Fathauer (1986) and Johnson and Johnson (1982). Poor quality photographs of the Radiola 60 and the RCA 103 speaker are available in McMahon (1972). Other photographs and graphics are contained in these notes. Inventory.

Radiola 60, SN 108106 BO, complete, restored Radiola 60 Color Ad, reproduction RCA tubes (7 matched 27s, 80, & 71A; all globes) Radiola 60 Guarantee Tag, reproduction RCA 103, SN 261435, cleaned, original Radiola 60 Color Brochure, reproduction Radiola 60 Instructions, reproduction Radiola 60 B & W Ad (2), reproduction Radiola 60 Service Notes, reproduction

References. Douglas, A., 1991. Radio Manufactures of the 1920s Volume III. The Vestal Press, Ltd., Vestal, New

York, 45-55.

Grinder, R. E., and G. H. Fathauer, 1986. The Radio Collectors Directory and Price Guide. Ironwood Press, Scottsdale, Arizona, 82-84.

Johnson, D., and B. Johnson, 1982. Antique Radios Restoration and Price Guide. Wallace-Homestead Book Company, Lombard, Illinois, 30-31

Johnson, D., and B. Johnson, 1989. Guide to Old Radios/Pointers, Pictures, and Prices. Wallace-Homestead Book Company, Radnor, Pennsylvania, 20-21.

McMahon, M. E., 1972. Vintage Radio. Vintage Radio, Palos Verdes Peninsula, California, 113 & 209.

McMahon, M. E., 1981. Radio Collectors Guide 1921-1932. Vintage Radio, Palos Verdes Peninsula, California, 148.

RCA Service Division, 1931. RCA Radiola 60 Service Notes Prepared Especially for RCA Authorized Dealers. Third Edition, RCA Victor Company, Inc., Radiola Division, Camden, New Jersey, 32 pp.

Table of Contents

Choosing Radiola 60 Restoration Colors ....1

Additional Graphics 2

Restoring The Radiola 60 Cabinet ....3

Coloring the escutcheons ...3

Mixing dark walnut paint for the cabinet edges ...3

Restoring cabinet feet .....3

Refinishing the cabinet ....4

Restoring The Radiola 60 Chassis & Electronics .....5

Repairing power supply ...5

Repairing radio chassis ...5

Miscellaneous .....6

Restoring The RCA Tapestry Speaker 103 ..6

Reproducing Selected Paper .....7

Radiola 60 Service Notes ....7

RCA Radiola 60 Guarantee Tag ....7

Radiola 60 Color Brochure and & Color Advertisement .8

RCA Dealers Advertising Wallet & Color Advertisements 8

Radiola 60 Instructions and Monochrome Advertisements ..8

RCA Radiola 60 Guarantee Tag Reproduction ..9

Photographs of Finished Restoration ....11

Copy of A Bottom License Notice ...13

Dealers Advertising Wallet Copy (6 pages) ....14

Choosing Radiola 60 Restoration Colors

Shown below and on the following page are col-lected graphics from available dealer's advertising, advertising brochures, assorted journal advertise-ments, service notes, and the owner's instructions. They comprise both pictures and drawings of vari-ous qualities; no color changes were made here other than general brightening or lightening of the images. The color images show a gold color for the escutch-eons and most images show good contrast between the edges of the escutcheons and their interiors, due no doubt to the rough surface texture of the es-cutcheon interior. It is desirable to reproduce and slightly exaggerate this contrast across the escutch-eons for visual appeal in the restoration.

Furthermore, while the cabinet color in these im-ages varies considerably, the contrast between the cabinet edges and the veneer surfaces is not great, suggesting a dark surface finish similar to the edges' color (this color is known from surviving samples). The captions accompanying the first and second pictures (Dealer's Advertisement Excerpt & Adver-tising Brochure Excerpt) both state that the cabinet has a "two-tone walnut finish." Inspection of the remnants of finishes found on original-finish Ra-diola 60 radios, the graphic images shown here, and existing (modern day) stains, enabled the selection of a black walnut stain as a very close match to the original color of the veneer. The color of the soft-wood edges was exactly matched by careful mixing of paints.

Dealers Advertisement Excerpt Advertising Brochure Excerpt Journal Advertising Excerpt Service Notes Cover Excerpt Journal Advertising Excerpt Journal Advertising Excerpt Advertising Brochure Excerpt Owners Instructions Excerpt

1

Additional Graphics

Service Notes Page 27 Excerpt

Service Notes Page 30 Excerpt 2

Restoring The Radiola 60 Cabinet Coloring the escutcheons

Cleaned with steel wool (#0000) and acetone prior to painting to bring out detail. Further buffed with steel wool (#0000) after cleaning to bring out further detail. Applied "Rub 'n BuffTM" gold leaf 76361A.

Applied sparingly with finger only to coat top surfaces. Stayed out of nooks and crannies (coating entire surface was too uniform). Achieved "antiqued" look that resembles early pictures of originals.

Buffed shiny to look metallic. Also tried gold acrylic model paint (easily removed with acetone). Required 3 coats for coverage (so metal did not show through). Paint that thick hid detail (result look "painted' with thick coats). Sometimes was difficult to avoid thickness in nooks and crannies (like lettering). Also tried 40 KaratTM gold fluid by Sanfords (easily removed with acetone).

Gave one coat coverage and detail showed through. The finish was too flat even though paint is metallic (too uniform, looks painted).

Mixing dark walnut paint for the cabinet edges

Wanted tougher paint than original lacquer finish to increase durability over original. By trial and error, found the following mixture matches the color and sheen very well:

10 oz. Red Devil Gloss Polyurethane Oil Enamel, #14 Walnut, 16 oz. Red Devil Gloss Polyurethane Oil Enamel, #30 Satin Black, 3/16 oz. ACE Bright & Easy Gloss Latex Acrylic Enamel, 102A118 Deep Green.

Also tried a mixture of latex acrylic enamels. Found the following mixture gave a very good match of color:

2 qts. ACE Bright & EasyTM Gloss Latex Acrylic Enamel, 102A105 Black, 1 qt. ACE Seven Star Acrylic Latex Floor & Patio Paint, 205A112 Dark Brown, oz. ACE Bright & EasyTM Gloss Latex Acrylic Enamel, 102A118 Deep Green, 2 oz. Black color additive (used by ACE hardware stores to custom mix paints).

This mixture did not always go on smoothly. Durability was bad (easily came off sharp edges). Paint looked a little too flat.

Restoring cabinet feet

Cleaned and stripped original feet. Made silicone rubber mold of good-looking original foot. Cast reproduction foot using ALUMILITETM casting plastic (resin and catalyst system). Trimmed and ground reproduction foot to mate with cabinet. Painted all feet with gold acrylic paint in two coats. Painted feet with dark brown latex paint and wiped off.

Left dark color in crevices. Achieved antiqued look matching original aged appearance.

Drilled center mounting hole in reproduction feet.

3

Refinishing the cabinet

Glued all loose veneer with white or carpenter's glue, clamping overnight. Stripped all previous finish using commercial solvent mixture for varnish, lacquer, & shellac. Applied solvent and absorbed dissolved finish with #0000 steel wool. Final washed with solvent and steel wool; buffed clean with dry steel wool. Filled and patched all holes and dents on soft (solid) wood edges. Sanded smooth and cleaned with tack cloth. Filled veneer with paste wood filler using putty knife & wiped cross-grain with clean rag. Lightly sanded and rubbed with steel wool on edges and cleaned with tack cloth. Stained veneer (only) with ZARTM #125 Black Walnut Stain (must special order). Lacquered one side (including soft wood edges) at a time. Applied quickly by brush with no over-brushing and allowed surface to flow even. Allowed to dry overnight before moving on to another side. Repeated for all sides, being careful of build-up in corners. Sanded and rubbed with steel wool (#0000) smooth with grain and cleaned with tack cloth. Repeated lacquering and sanding (above two steps). Repeated until smooth unbroken lacquer finish was achieved over entire cabinet and lid. Eliminated brush marks on all soft wood edges. Satinized finish on veneer with small random light movement of steel wool (#0000) on finish. Removed all traces of gloss and minor scratches from earlier steel wool rubbings. Was careful not to remove lacquer, just to dull it. Did not satinize finish on soft wood edges as it is painted over next. Cleaned all surfaces with tack cloth. Painted all.soft wood edges with dark walnut enamel mixture. See notes on Mixing dark walnut paint for soft wood cabinet edges. Brushed on in one direction only with minimal over-lapping. Smoothed painted surface by lightly rubbing with steel wool (#0000) in direction of edge. Repeated painting and rubbing with steel wool (above two steps).

Repeated until all painted surface edges were covered adequately. Touched up painted areas with small artists brush after final rubbing.

Waxed painted surfaces only! Replaced bad or missing feet with reproduction; see Restoring cabinet feet.

4

Restoring The Radiola 60 Chassis & Electronics (SN 108106 B0) Repairing power supply

Made power supply measurements on the socket power unit, 19 Jan. '96. Primary of power transformer and 6 of power cord.

Measured at the 120v setting of 110v/120v selector switch == 8.4. Measured at the 110v setting of 110v/120v selector switch == 7.9.

Across terminals 1 & 2 (across output choke) == 542. Across terminal 1 & tube socket filament (output choke & filter reactors) == 990.

No capacitors appear shorted Have continuity across all secondary windings

Actually, the windings across terminals 8 & 9 and across 10 & 11 are bridged by re-sistors.

Looks like bad switch, is intermittent; replaced with switch from junker. Voltage measurements @ no load, unconnected to radio, & 110/120 switch at 110v setting:

Terminals Voltage Terminals Voltage

1 to 7 395v DC 5 to 8 3.00v AC 2 to 7 397v DC 5 to 9 2.94v AC 3 to 7 396v DC 8 to 9 5.8v AC 4to 7 390v DC 5 to 10 1.57v AC 6 to 7 390v DC 5 to 11 1.60v AC

10 to 11 3.2v AC

Good voltages! Set 110v/120v switch to 120v position to give slightly lower voltages. Repairing radio chassis

The chassis electronics on this set were in very good shape. All capacitors, resistors, & coils tested at specification values. All solder joints & wiring (except antenna & ground leads) were intact except for faulty solder con-

nection for 3 small capacitors wired in parallel between cathode and plate of tube 7 (2nd detector);

re-soldered it. All radio-frequency coils, intermediate-frequency coils, and audio transformer were intact. Potentiometer volume control was intact. Cleaned chassis and coated with WD-40 lubricant to feed paint. There was much beat and howling. Tried replacing 1 mfd and two mfd capacitors in chassis and

there was some improvement, but not a cure. Adjusted RF compensating condenser which greatly improved the radio but howl was still there on the high end and there was still some beat around the dial.

Pulled variable tuning condenser, but kept electrically connected, to expose neutralizing and tuning condensers.

Adjusted tuning and neutralizing condensers to maximize output with good tone quality while eliminating beat and howl.

Turned out to be mostly adjustments to the 1st IF transformer neutralizing and tuning con-densers and the RF compensating condenser.

5

Without instruments, adjusted the remaining (of the six intermediate frequency transformers tuning and neutralizing condensers, and radio frequency compensating condenser, as per ser-vice note instructions.

Maximized output with good tone quality without distortion, beat, or howl. Sharpened tuning to only one point on the dial. Did not adjust trimming condensers since no signal generator was available to cali-

brate the dial. Miscellaneous

The refinished original cabinet has a very good label on the bottom (scanned to make reproductions). Cabinet has 4 original feet. Asbestos and terminal strip cover plate and insulating paper present in good shape. Placed set of good-emission premium matched globe RCA tubes into radio.

Tubes have good legible markings, good emission, and good appearance. Matched tube elements and appearance.

The radio has all original electronics and hardware, right down to the chassis bolts! Very strong good radio!!!

Restoring The RCA Tapestry Speaker 103 (SN 261435 FJ) This speaker is all original. It was cleaned carefully and waxed. The speaker grill cloth was very carefully brushed and gently vacuumed. The colors are brilliant because the speaker was originally mounted inside of a cabinet and so was protected from light. The mounting holes were filled and finished to match the surrounding finish; they are undetectable. The back cover is also in good shape because of the sun protection of the sur-rounding cabinet.

6

Reproducing Selected Paper

Radiola 60 Service Notes An old binding of RCA Service Notes for several Radiola models was found at auction, and the Radiola 60 Service Notes were cop-ied by xeroxing. An example of the quality is illustrated at the left in the first figure. Unfortunately, the paper was thin and the image on the reverse side of each page showed through, obscuring the desired image; see the enlarged example segment in the second figure. Also, because the paper was old, it had yellowed, which further obscured the image and imparted a dark gray cast to the image. The Radiola 60 Service Notes were then scanned into the computer at 150 dots per inch as a 256-gray scale image, but the image was the same quality as that achieved via Xerox! However, the image was then processed by brightening, filtering selected shades of gray, and finally converting the remaining image to a black and white raster by using commercially available graphics software for the personal computer. The brightening and filtering were deter-mined by extensive trial and error. The printed result is illustrated by the "cleaned" example segment in the third figure. Each page of the Radiola 60 Service Notes was then scanned and "cleaned" in this manner and pasted onto 11 inch by 17 inch paper sheets, two page images per sheet. The page images were ordered and arranged on the sheets so that a back-to-back Xerox copying operation would result in the correct page order when the 11 inch by 17 inch sheets were assembled in order. The sheets were then copied and the copies were folded and as-sembled before being trimmed to size to the booklet form used for the original Radiola 60 Service Notes. Aside from the color of the paper (white as compared to the yellowed original), the reproduc-tion is practically indistinguishable from the original! RCA Radiola 60 Guarantee Tag An original Radiola 60 Guarantee Tag was found at auction, but the red cardboard was unsuited to copying or scanning directly. Instead, careful type font matching and spacing was performed in a word processor on the computer to duplicate the look of every ele-ment on the tag; see the following page. Over 400 fonts were in-spected to identify the 20 used in the reproduction of the tag. The image was then printed on poster board, color matched to the original. Note that the poster board is printed both front and back and that the serial number matches the radio chassis. The board was then trimmed, punched, and scored to match the original.

7

Radiola 60 Color Brochure & Color Advertisement An original Radiola 60 color brochure was purchased through the mail from a dealer in August 1995. The large color Radiola 60 journal advertisement was loaned by a private collector. Both of these pieces were of good quality and were taken to a color copy shop (Kinko's)for reproduction. Several trials were required to achieve the correct colors in a 4-pass color copy-ing operation. Both sides of each were copied back to back as in the originals. The color bro-chure was folded and trimmed to match the original; the advertisement was trimmed to match the original. The copies are indistinguishable from the originals! RCA Dealer's Advertising Wallet & Color Advertisements An original RCA dealer's advertising wallet (stand up display made of embossed cardboard to look like leather) was purchased at the MARC Spring meet in 1996 at Dearborn. The wallet was about 9 inches by 12 inches and contained fold-out pages printed in color. The condition of the pages was very good, with the exception of a tear on the bottom of the first page. Be-cause of the fragile condition of the pages and the awkwardness associated with trying to copy them commercially, they were carefully scanned and digitized at 150 dots per inch in 24-bit color (16.8 million colors). The images were then resampled without loss to 170 dpi, reducing the images slightly to fit on 8 inch by 11 inch paper. They were printed in a 4-pass color printing operation at 600 dpi with very fine dithering. The quality is very good and well por-trays the original items. Also, full color reprint advertisements from Johnson and Johnson (1989) were sampled at 300 dpi, resampled without loss to 207 dpi, and printed similarly. Radiola 60 Instructions & Monochrome Advertisements An original Radiola 60 Instructions manual was kindly loaned by a dealer at the 1996 MARC Extravaganza swap meet so that a very clean Xerox copy could be made. Several copies, at different levels of brightness, were made of all pages with half-tone graphics. Measurements were also made of the original manual for use in sizing and trimming the copies. These copies were later touched up with paint to remove extraneous marks, and the best half-tone images were selected. The pages were then mounted on 11 inch by 17 inch paper sheets, two page images per sheet. The page images were ordered and arranged on the sheets so that a back-to back Xerox copying operation would result in the correct page order when the 11 inch by 17 inch sheets were assembled in order. The sheets were then copied and the copies were folded and assembled before being trimmed to size to the booklet form used for the original Radiola 60 Instructions manual. The reproduction is practically indistinguishable from the original! Two black and white Radiola 60 journal advertisements were purchased at swap meets from paper dealers during 1995-1996. They were copied, front and back, on standard Xerox ma-chines while varying the brightness until images were obtained indistinguishable from the originals.

8

EVERY PURCHASER OF A RADIOLA SHOULD READ CAREFULLY THE FOLLOWING EXPLANATION OF THE

RCA GUARANTEE FOR HIS PROTECTION

The RCA guarantees this Radiola to be free from defects in material and workmanship for a period of ninety days from the date of sale by the RCA Author-ized Dealer who countersigns this guarantee. Should such defect become apparent within the period of guarantee, the RCA Authorized Dealer will effect the neces-sary repairs or replacements to this Radiola.

The RCA Authorized Dealer should return such part or parts replaced within the period of this guarantee and alleged to be defective in material or workmanship to the RCA in the regular manner, attached to this tag proper-ly filled out and signed. The RCA will repair or replace such parts, which upon their receipt and examination shall disclose to have been defective in material or workmanship.

This guarantee shall not apply to any Radiola which shall have been repaired or altered in any way so as in our judgment to affect its stability or reliability, or which has been subject to misuse, negligence or accident, nor which has had the serial number altered, effaced or removed.

Radio Corporation of America

Sold to ...... Date.... Address... City..... Countersigned By RCA Authorized Dealer....... Address...... Serial

R A D I O L A O W N E R S H O U L D K E E P T H I S G U A R A N T E E F O R F U T U R E R E F E R E N C E

NP-37625-P

RCA AUTHORIZED DEALERS RADIOLA RECORD CARD

Purchasers Name........... Address..... RCA Radiola 60 Serial ..... Date Sold .... Salesman ..... Date Installed ... Installed By... Accessories .. $ ..... $ ..... $ ..... Radiola $ ..... Total $ ..... NP-37625-P

RCA Radiola 60

] }[ No 108106.

EC{

EC

No 108106.

Layout

of

RCA Radiola 60 Guarantee Tag

Reproduction Example

9

DEALERS RECORD OF SERVICE CALLS

D A T E S E R V I C E M A N R E M A R K S

10

Photographs of Finished Restoration

Radiola 60 (SN 108106 BO)

Tapestry Speaker 103 (SN 261435 FJ) front Tapestry Speaker 103 (SN 261435 FJ) back

11

Tapestry Speaker 103 (SN 261435 FJ) bottom

Accompanying Paper (2 color advertisements and a six-page color wallet are not shown)

12