New Vintage Audio Restoration HQ

Here are before and after my complete stripping, cleaning, sanding and restoration of a 90 year old tube tester case for a comparison point to my above posted photo.

Before.jpg
Wood 2.jpg
 
atmasphere said:
I hope you get to testing some vintage tubes in that soon...
Click to expand...
Thanks Ralph. I'm going to be replacing the main capacitor in it this weekend and go from there. I have a beautiful pair of 1945 National Union in original box type 45 tubes on their way to me. I'd love to be able to test them in it.

I'm waiting to get this beauty back. I currently have a friend who is an amp builder trying to bring it back to life. It's unique in that the top part is completely isolated from the bottom half which means you set it for the right tube using manual patch cords.

This one took 25+ hours just to strip of the almost 85 years of military grade lacquer being brushed on year after year. I've got the wood case ready to go for when I get the unit back (hopefully working). It's 2.5 feet tall.

5.jpg
 
Going to try starting my internal modifications and learning as I go.

This is a pic of my super mint 1947 NRI model 70 tester. Honestly it looks to me both inside and out like it has never been used.

It works great, but I'm going to be replacing the giant cap with a new one. At 78 years old it's probably safe to say it needs to be updated.

From there I'll run some checks as I found a page that walks me through testing and updating this exact tester. So I'll see how the other parts of it test.

But I seriously think this has never been used.

ab.png
 
Michaels HiFi said:
Thanks Ralph. I'm going to be replacing the main capacitor in it this weekend and go from there. I have a beautiful pair of 1945 National Union in original box type 45 tubes on their way to me. I'd love to be able to test them in it.

I'm waiting to get this beauty back. I currently have a friend who is an amp builder trying to bring it back to life. It's unique in that the top part is completely isolated from the bottom half which means you set it for the right tube using manual patch cords.

This one took 25+ hours just to strip of the almost 85 years of military grade lacquer being brushed on year after year. I've got the wood case ready to go for when I get the unit back (hopefully working). It's 2.5 feet tall.

View attachment 35021
Click to expand...
Make sure you get those connections right!
Before you start testing tubes from the wild, test a few known good ones so you know if the tester is working.
Michaels HiFi said:
It works great, but I'm going to be replacing the giant cap with a new one. At 78 years old it's probably safe to say it needs to be updated.
Click to expand...
This is a case where just putting in a competent film cap, but nothing exotic, will work great, like these.
 
atmasphere said:
Make sure you get those connections right!
Before you start testing tubes from the wild, test a few known good ones so you know if the tester is working.

This is a case where just putting in a competent film cap, but nothing exotic, will work great, like these.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link.

I agree - I want to do as few changes as possible so I don't create any new issues.

I figure light cleaning and lubing of the pots with the appropriate products, testing the tube to ensure it is good (I bet it will be), replace the power cable with a new one, and change out the cap and then see how it is at that point.
 
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