General Electric F-63 (1938)I bought this on ebay several months ago for $24. I had looked for a while and the prices were usually double that. This one came cheaper because someone had begun the restoration process, but gave up. Although the before pictures do not show it, the radio had been painted yellow. The person who had begun the project stripped the cabinet and bezel, but it looks like he used a wire wheel on an electric drill to do it. Consequently, there were some deep scratches thorough out the radio.The seller listed it as being in very good condition except for one small piece of missing veneer. As it turns out, there were several missing pieces. The plywood cabinet also had delamanined in several spots. Compared to others radios I have, this was pretty minor stuff. The deep scratches presented a greater problem because the only way to deal with them was by sanding, and veneer is pretty thin. I had to leave in a couple of scratches because I was afraid of sanding through the veneer.
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Before Picture
Here's the cabinet in pretty much the condition I received it. Chassis, speaker knobs, bezel, dial glass and grille cloth had been removed. One of the decorative speaker screws was missing. |
Damage detail
This is a detail of the biggest missing piece of veneer. Luckily the grain runs horizonal and the black inlay piece was still there. I originaly thought that the inlay was wood, but after doing a bunch of sanding, I believe it is some sort of plastic. |
Completed
All in all it turned out nice for a $24 radio. The big gold dial is pretty cool lit up in the dark. Although you can seen the veneer repair in the finished picture, its really not noticeable under normal light. The camera's flash seems to enhanced the slight difference in the veneer's color.
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