[Sam samuelian]

Sounds good Ron. I still want to go through with it--but Mark Oppat feels it will do NOTHING for the sound at this age. He said when first made the acoustic clarifiers were "tuned" to the cabinet. BTW, the car upholstery material would be a good candidate for a replacement "curved" chamber for the RCA consoles of the thirties.

On another subject, I learned after spending $400.00 to replace the entire set of 20 tubes for the 38-690 that this high cost wasn't necessary and that exc. used tubes at less than half would have been fine. Some of the NOS tubes didn't test as high as they should have too.

I just watched the first of four DVDs by Bret Minassa on restoring old radios. This one was about refinishing. He is quite good at communicating with his audience, gives valuable tips, and takes you step by step through processes--even removing and installing veneer whether new or old. If the other three discs are just as good, and I fully expect them to be, they are highly recommended.

My last topic here (which I also posted elsewhere) is my concern over having newly purchased consoles shipped. Variable reviews have been heard by me regarding Greyhound (but still the cheapest), UPS (dubious packing), I know nothing about Craters and Freighters, heard Fedex is good, and of course private pick ups and delivery could vary but overall should be dependable if not costly. Another option would be driving hundreds of miles yourself, something I don't relish and something costly at the new price of $4.00 a gallon plus today. What do you think?