Hi All
well I just notice this Auction on Ebay

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Vintage-Valve-Radio-Healing-Golden-Voice-401E-/....

Sadly this has cracks in all the wrong places..were they are most visible

Anyway it got me wondering, if the case was given to a bakerlite repairer who knows there stuff, would they be able to rework this to the point of them being invisible to the eye

I am not bidding on this... just curious.... thought its fetching a pretty penny atm (I am watching it to see where it lands thought)

So anybody able to comment on how reparable the case would be ?

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EDIT Just so you all know in the Auction it went for $470, you weren't far wrong Brad in fact much more on the money...I think there was a little bit of an auto bidding war for it in the last minute
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Thanks people

The case is repairable. To what degree the quality would be would depend on who does the repair. A number of people claim to be Bakelite repairers though only a few do it really well. Rarely do repairs go un-noticed though. It is often simply too difficult to match the colour, texture and finish though with a mottled cabinet like this one and the cracks being stable, this should be a better repair than most.

I'm one of the lucky sods that has one of these in good nick. I have four other colours and over time (when funds permit!) I want to complete the set. So far I have walnut, burgundy, black mottled green and this one, mottled yellow. The green and yellow ones are amongst the rare colours, together worth around $2,000.00.

I reckon the one in the linked auction will go for around the $300-$400 mark.

I am curious to see why the seller has it in the transistor radio category though. It's anything but.

I am curious to see why the seller has it in the transistor radio category though. It's anything but.

I've seen that many times. The next category in the list is 'tube radios' so I don't know if it's a case of sheer ignorance (about tube equating to valve) or sloppiness.

I suppose Ebay could change tube to valve given that is what most people in Australia call them. They Australianised their greeting at the top-left of the site (which this site styled its greeting on) by replacing "Hi" with "G'day" so it can't be that hard to do.

There is also a Kriesler 11-60 in the transistor category.

I managed to drop an AWA Radiolette "Fridge" leaving the cabinet in 7 pieces. It is a mottled ivory one and was very successfully repaired. I'm sure a expert could fix the Healing as the mottling will help disguise the repairs.
Harold

Thanks Guys for the feedback on that ...being coloured bakalite I was sure it would be sought after item
little out of my league I am afraid and I think the ship sailed away on me a long time ago with the more truly collectables but its still nice to save the more common ones from landfill...just getting the time atm
(and honing my skills or trying too)

On Ebay I actually just search "vintage valve tube" radio's (or the manufacture or model name) and I don't sell there (anything) so never have looked really at the categories...still transistors they are not

Nice to know the "Fridge" Lives but I guess that was a gut wrenching feeling when it happened

Cheers All

There are two generations now who have never listened to AM radio and don't know how to find it, let alone knowing the difference between tube/valve, discrete transistor and IC circuits. Some sellers seem to thing that anything your grandmother might have owned must be "baker-lite"

Maven

Good point Maven a lot probably wouldn't have clue what a Electronic Valve was as you say or more really care to know.

I watched a UK reality doco type show on the changing nature high street... different time periods
when they got to the 60's and opened a record shop the kids were like how quaint but my Ipod holds 2000 songs ....and I can take it with me...12 inch LP's are history but I do miss all that beautiful cover Art we use to get...I still have my LP's.

Still the quality that can be got from an LP beats MP3's...thought sure there are lossless formats
these days thought my ears couldn't tell the difference..hearing loss.

Just on "Baker Lite" if you cant fix it or hide it make a feature of it ...have a look at this plum.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/151447555469....

Actually considering a lot look like that it might be an idea ....anyway.
(not that Id really want to do that to a radio)

OK I could be wrong, it my have existed... I dont know every radio ever made... but I think not.

The Healing went for $470. A good price considering the need for repairs.

12 inch LP's are history

Generally, yes, but thanks to the demise of the CD some of today's bands are releasing on vinyl.

"[US] Pressing plants are feeling the strain of increasing demand for vinyl albums, and they're ramping up production, working overtime to fill orders. "

"Labels are finding it hard to schedule time at the factories, which are frequently backlogged. Part of the reason is that major labels are reissuing old albums on vinyl, slowing down the process for newer artists"

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/vinyl-wont-really-make-a-comeback-until-we-have-more-record-presses.

JB HiFi has been selling LPs for a couple of years but the music on most of them isn't to my taste. I am looking forward to seeing more LPs released in the years to come. Playing them not only on my old radiograms but also on a modern turntable connected to the Silicon Chip Currawong amplifier is something I really want to do down the track (no pun intended).

GTC
yes I love to see a bit of a revival of them for sure and thank you for the information on that as I haven't been following much about happenings in the Audio world

The comment was in reference to the state of affairs with Audio delivery as it is at the moment.
(its not at all how I feel about them)

I knew that they had never stop production but it had become more a niche market thing not main stream

People use to think that getting pressings from the states was the way to go but really getting them here was a far better idea as with our smaller market our pressings weren't from worn out stampers
(I suppose eventually that might have become the case but the first runs here would probably be all good pressings)

I have a very few half track master pressings and people would often comment on them sound wise..it was vinyls last hooray against CD 's but it did show that if produced and stamped with quality in mind vinyls was still a force to be reckoned with for sound quality.

It may never bet the technical tests per sia but to me sound is a subjective thing and really as time goes on our ears do deteriorate. so we wouldn't hear 20K even of we did once...sure then you get into intermodes etc but thats one of the arguments that will never end I guess.

Oddly I was reading a post somewhere or was it a page? (or was it in radio waves) anyway it was in regard to this guy trying to fix something a radio or stereo for this guy and what he found out was that to this guy the sound of a 78 was most pleasing.

I think it was a radio anyway he built a circuit that emulated tone wise a 78 and the other bloke was happy as it seems

So to me ,mosfet tube transistor all can be built to deliver a great sound but its what makes you happy that counts and I love my old vinyl but yeah I need a turn table now really ..well its not that so much as in getting styles these days. (and a Belt)

Ebay prices a few years ago you were getting great turntables for nix, now try and get one

Just my thoughts.

Brad we want photos and a video when you build it oh and thats Please...
(excuse my bad manners in not putting that in before)

Oh and yeah on the radio I thought it wasn't a bad price as you said considering what you'd have to get dome to it

BTW did you see that collector Simon Sheridan on the ABC the other night...geez what a collection *drools*...looks like he cornered the market on some models lol

heres the link

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-31/art-deco-radio-collection/5859074.

People use to think that getting pressings from the states was the way to go but really getting them here was a far better idea as with our smaller market our pressings weren't from worn out stampers
(I suppose eventually that might have become the case but the first runs here would probably be all good pressings)

I found that local pressings of the CBS label (made by the Australian Record Club in Sydney) were often of very poor quality, with tape hiss and clicks and plops quite evident. With the worst offenders I could plainly see the divots in the surface. I don't know if the cause was poorly made stampers or low quality vinyl, or perhaps a combination of both.

I still have most of my vinyl collection and the only recordings I can rely upon to be almost perfect are those on the Deutsche Grammophon label.

Oddly I was reading a post somewhere or was it a page? (or was it in radio waves) ...

It's a letter in the Mailbag section of this month's Silicon Chip [p10]

HUmm well that blows that theory out of the water GTC but it maybe a little isolated to them I dont know
you do make a point about the quality of the Vinyl thought and that is another factor

Bottom line with vinyl they could have all been made better, it took CD's to arrive for them to lift there game and quite true too its only the quality and QC control that they put into them in the beginning that defines what we ended up with along the chain

I do remember CBS pressings being a bit flimsy thought and back then like you mention I think there were more sort after pressing of albums by particular companies...maybe that idea got generalized to over seas having better pressings which wasn't necessarily the truth of the matter but neither is my comment its seem holding up better in that light

ARH thanks knew I read it somewhere recently...just been reading so many links of late

Cheers mate

I was a member of the Australian Record Club for a number of years and I grew tired of returning their flawed CBS pressings to the extent that I would avoid buying them. I didn't often find such problems with imported LPs, but CDs were a welcome relief from the vagaries of vinyl pressings.