Vintegtas

Some pics of my STC830:

An original speaker cloth remnant.
The broadcast dial lit up.
The shortwave dial lit up.

The photos are from the chemical age of photography which does not cope well with the range of brightnesses. The dial letters are in fact pin sharp.
The 6T5 indicator can be seen behind the STC logo.

The indication is an annulus that opens and closes at the inner circle. With the red dot of the cathode heater in the centre it looks quite sinister.

Hope these are an encouragement to go on with restoration.

Regards
Graham

Click on image for larger resolution

Vintageas

Another useful link showing a pic of an 830, an giving an idea of unrestored value.

http://www.southcom.com.au/~pauledgr/STC.htm

At the bottom of the page is another link to a pdf
"Find Out How Old Your STC Radio Is".
This refers to the 830R.

However the 1939 AORSM page number given (316) does not exist in my copy. There are other page number mistakes also so I wonder about the accuracy of this document even though it appears originally to have been an STC publication.

http://www.hws.org.au/RadioHistory/manufacturers/STC.htm has Q R & X models and only refers tp p 290 AORSM.

With regard to restoration, to some collectors (some would say the purists) a radio in complete original condition is worth more than a restored one, even if it is not working. Wear and tear from normal usage, as opposed to damage, is acceptable.

Of course if it is to be made to work and so of interest to non-collectors, and be acceptable to the lady of the house, then compromise is necessary.

Regards
Graham

Click on image for larger resolution

A 1938 Westinghouse radiogram showing what a turntable of the era looked like.

http://ozradio.wireless.org.au/west.htm

Hi All,

Have been away and have not as yet completed the pictures. Will attempt over the weekend and post same.

Thanks to all for the great info so far.

Thank you Graham (STC830) for your valuable information. It seems that your speaker cloth is very different to mine. The pics that I will post will tell the story. I am very keen to obtain the printed information that you have. How can I do this? My 830 has the exact same dial as yours. However, it seems that yours is a radio only console. Mine is definately the 830R. This has the added top portion for the Edison Phono, accessed by a hinged top lid. What a shame that the phono is missing. Not sure how I will track down a replacement phono. However, I will try.

I am amazed that my console is made from solid timber. There is hardly any ply. The console frame is solid timber and the top phono compartment is also solid timber. All in original condition.

I do not plan to touch any of the timber. I want to keep it original. The only work I will do is on the radio chasis and repair (or maybe replace) the speaker cloth.

What is very pleasing is that the radio timber work and decoration is in the "art deco" style. Absolutely stunning to look at.

I will organise to post the pics soon. In the mean time, thank you again to all for your help. What a great site this is.

Kind regards
Vincent

Hello Vincent,

The last two advertisements I can scan into a pdf or whatever file type that you would like. If you unhide your email address in your profile I will send. Otherwise I will send to Brad to pass on to you.

The first three from the Brian Smith catalogue are copyright so I can't at this time send them. I have tried to contact Brian to see if he is still in business to get permission to copy but have heard nothing yet.

The speaker cloth is just a remnant - the radio is fitted with a plain dark brown speaker cloth I bought years ago. Here is a good site for speaker cloth:
http://www.grillecloth.com/pages/p8.php

Regarding the phono, I have had a look around on the net and can't find any reference to an Edison turntable. Your best bet may be to join Historical Radio Society of Australia (HRSA - $35) and advertise in their classifieds (free to members).

With regard to the chassis restoration it is worthwhile to put a fuse in the high tension side to protect the speaker field winding in case of shorts in the rest of the circuit. I will advise exactly where this should go later as this is a mod I had someone do for me.

Have you had a chance to look at the dial lettering? I am curious to know if all 830s have etched dials. If it is etched and you want to repaint let me know and I will pass on my procedure.

Further to Copyright issue: Brian Smith obtained permission from Alcatel, the heirs to STC to use the original publication for preparation of the reprint. He retyped the text using as close a font as the original as possible, added the pictures, and notes of his own. So the full manual is his own creation, and is marked copyright Brian Smith. Hence I am not willing to reproduce it fullyt without permission. After all, he may still have some to sell.

Regards
Graham

I can say with confidence that your STC radio never had an Edison turntable originally.
Edison entered the radio business in 1928, but by late 1929 the Edison Phonograph Works (and the radio side of the business) went bankrupt & closed.
As far as I know, Edison only ever released 2 "radio-phonograh combination" models- the C-1 & C-2.
Both electric turntables were basically the same, except the pick-up on one was designed to play both lateral & vertical recordings, and the other played lateral recordings only.
Edison never sold his electric turntables to other companies, and they were well & truly obsolete by the late 30s anyway.
Reproduction "Edison" script transfers have been available for well over 30 years for acoustic spring wound machines, so I would say someones added a modern transfer under the lid.
The original script transfers (decals) used a small triange to dot the "I" in Edison, but most repros you see today, dot the "I" with a circle, square, or some other shape other than a triangle.

I should image your STC would have originally used a Garrard or Collaro turntable or changer (if the motor board is recessed deep enough to take one), unless they were buying from an aussie company like Marmac?

Vincent, if you can post a photo of the motor board, I may be able to tell you what was in it originally- provided it hasn't been cut to take a later turntable at some stage.
The turntable shown in the Westinghouse is a Garrard, and they appear on ebay from time to time, and generally sell quite cheap.

Some more adds

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17483043
http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/17642295
http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/17463388
http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/17465533
http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/17471615
http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/17482316
http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/17519766
http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/17532725

Just wanted to correct some wrong information I posted above.
There were actually 3 Edison radios that included a turntable.
The C-1, C-2 & C-4.
The 1 & 2, played both lateral & vertical recordings, and the 4 played lateral only.

There is a pic of the C-4 on eBay at the moment:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Vintage-Edison-8P-Tube-Radio-Amp-Speaker-Tuner-C4-/380251308900?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5888be8364

Unfortunately the tone arm is missing.

As this may go in 3 days will ask Brad to post a pic.

Graham

Click on image for larger resolution

Another link

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/stcaus_830r_ch_830.html

just out of interest.

Hi all,

I have been told (directed) by the one who must be obeyed, to make a choice. Either model trains or restore radios. My son made the choice (model trains). We just do not have enough room to do both. So, I advertised the 830 on ebay. What a mistake. It seems that what I have is rare, rare, rare.

I committed to the ebay sale. Hope it does not sell. I could pull the ad (look for stc830 in ebay), but that would not be fair!!! Who is fair on ebay!!!

I do hope it does not sell. I have found out that this STC830 may have been a pre 1938 model, that was designed with the edison phono to test out the market. It was never a production run. Thus, it maybe that it is only 1 of a handfull ever built.

I did send Brad some pics. Not published as yet. I was contacted by a keen STC collector that said I was stupid to put it on ebay for the price I did. He gave me the info above.

I still have the option of negating any sale on ebay. However, unless I can be sure of the rarity of the console, I will not pull it from the ebay sale.

If anyone has some info that may confirm that this was a pre-production model that was never manufactured, please let me know as a matter of urgency.

Thanks again to all that replied.

I will let you all know the outcome.

My very best regards

Hi Vincent

In John Stokes "More Golden Age of Radio" p71 there is a Model 830 chassis fitted to a "non-original cabinet".
The book doesn't say that it is a radiogram but it could possibly be.
The cabinet style looks like a mid 30s console with ~100mm legs, flat top and with ~50mm wide fluted square pilasters (half colums) each side - quite a restrained style nothing like the pic on eBay.
This certainly shows that this chassis was being fitted to cabinets not of the typical '38 STC style. But the book gives no idea when the combination was put together; however the description "non-original" suggests the chassis came from another cabinet.

I fear this is only a little help.

Graham

What you have is "unique".
It started life as an Edison diamond disc phonograph C-250 or C-19, but has been completely gutted, having the original grille removed from where the dial/ chassis now sits, and the door to the record storage compartment removed from where the present grille & speaker are now.
My guess is that it was probably altered in the 1960s or 70s, when the original 830 "art deco" cabinet would have been considered ugly & old fashioned, & gramophone collecting hadn't taken off as a hobby, so if the Edison had a broken mainspring, or worn needle, replacements would have been hard to get, so they've combined both items into one.
The C-250 was introduced in December 1915, and was available until April 1919, when the model designation was changed to C-19.
Both machines were identical, apart from the record storage area.
The C-250 had two drawers, and records were placed in the drawers on their edge, much like a filing cabinet.
In 1919 when the designation changed, the drawers become obsolete & were replaced with two rows of vertical slats with numbers below each designated record slot. The C-19 remained in production until late 1927, when the last remaining stock of 1235 C-19 cabinets were fitted out with motors, and sold before the factory closed in 1929.
The C250/19 was one of Edisons most successful mid-priced uprights, with more than 300,000 units being sold over the production periods, so it's by no means a rare model, not even over here. Today, a C-250 or C-19 in complete, near mint condition is worth around $600- $800 here in Australia, but they are worth about half that in USA.
Dealers tend to severely overprice these machines, thinking they are rare, but they seem to turn up even more often than the cheaper models, including the L-35 "London" table model.
Diamond disc machines aren't all that popular with collectors for the most part, even though they are of high quality & can sound fantastic. The records are quite hard to get, are more expensive than conventional shellac 78's, and the recorded content is generally pretty boring, as Edison picked what music was recorded until towards the end, and he had pretty bad taste compared to the public lol.

I guess you could attempt to restore the Edison back to original, but you'd probably end up paying more for all the parts you'd need, than what a good complete original would cost you.
If it were mine, I'd either keep an eye out of an empty STC 830 cabinet on ebay to put the radio components back into, and sell the Edison parts such as gold plated hinge, key escuteon & lock, lid stay if it's still present etc, to recoop what the radio cabinet cost, or I would simply restore the machine as is, an enjoy it as a novelty item.

The questions that this interesting piece raise for me are; as the chassis was an 830R, did it come from an STC gramophone/radiogram cabinet, or was the chassis sold without a cabinet for installations such as this. And if it came from an STC gramophone/radiogram, what does this look like as STC don't show it any of their publications or advertisements that I have seen, such as the type X or Q above.
As far as its worth as a collectors item goes it is at least as worthy as a similar conversion shown in Stokes "More Golden Age of Radio", albeit that is probably not a gramophone/radiogram. It is a response to the rapid change in technology that was occurring and is still occurring now. In keeping with the changes to the piece over time it would be appropriate to fit a late '30s record turntable, or even a '60s turntable to it.
In the end the needs of the household and the cost come into it too however.

LOL, I can show you what the STC bakelite needle cups look like, but not the record player unfortunately
About 25 yrs ago, I was with my father in his truck, and we were passing through the back streets of an industrial estate, when I spotted a radiogram abandoned in some long grass. It had obviously been there for quite some time, because it was literally falling apart.
The chassis & turntable were both gone, and all I could salvage was the enamel badge from the front, and 3 needle cups.
Back then, I hadn't seen any 30s/40s turntables before, although I was collecting acoustic gramophones, so I didn't recognise (and cant remember) the hole in the motor board, which might have offered a clue as to what was originally in it.
I can say with some certainty that it DIDN'T have a Collaro turntable in it. The needle cups are slightly larger than those used in the radiograms/record players with Collaros that I presently own.
I also have a couple Garrards that use steel needles, as well as an Aussie made "Marmac", but none of these have provisions for needle cups in the motor boards.