Frequently Asked Questions

We don't offer free diagnosis at this time due to the dangers of connecting an antique radio (often 60+ years old) to mains voltage being very dangerous and requiring the use of specialized equipment to check for electrical faults to avoid electrocution and/or fires. These electrical faults must be corrected before the unit can be powered up fully, which is required to complete any repairs. We will provide a basic safety check for as low as $20 on most sets unless maintenance is required in order to connect it to a power source.

Our Technician has been repairing vintage electronics since 1986 and has military experience repairing tube equipment.

We service all brands of tube radios and vintage electronics manufactured prior to 1987. We do not currently offer service on modern electronic devices, flat screen televisions or any type of smart device, and do not work on car radios of any year.

No. These devices can run on voltages as high as 1000 volts in some sections. The parts installed at the factory are often more than 60 years old. Capacitors dry out over time and can fail upon initial power up, or even by just plugging the unit into an active outlet. These electronic devices can be very dangerous if run unserviced. Parts can fail suddenly resulting in electrical short circuits and can cause electrocution and/or property damage, and even fires. Even if a radio powers up after years of inactivity, you run a very real risk of a catastrophic failure after even a few minutes. These radios can have "live" chassis and some of them can even electrocute you while plugged in and switched off just by touching any metal part (and most of the internal chassis are metal). Do not attempt to run any antique device that has not been serviced with any metal part exposed until it can be made safe by replacing defective parts.

Plugging in an unserviced antique device can also result in a minor repair turning into a major repair as the parts that fail upon power up/plugging in can take other parts out along with them. Some of these parts are simply no longer available, or are sold at a very high price due to rarity and demand. Replacing a part that costs a few dollars before plugging in can prevent you from replacing 10 parts that can cost hundreds of dollars, if they can even be located.

Antique radio repair is an art form. There aren't many around who fully understand how vacuum tubes work and are not familiar with the very high voltages within a tube radio (1000 volts, compared to as low as 5 or 24 volts in a modern device), and parts are not always readily available. The way these radios work is radically different than modern devices, and often alignment of the various sections is required, which requires very specialized equipment and hard to locate parts.

This means that until we can install the parts we know are bad, we may not find other parts that are bad, as we have to see how the radio performs/behaves in order to make further diagnoses. One often repairs one section only to find a fault in the next section that didn't present itself until the previous section was working properly. 

This means that we cannot usually guarantee a specific date or time period that the radio can be repaired within. We hope that you will understand and that the extended time required will not present too much of an inconvenience.

In most cases, no. Using a capacitor from 1947, even if new in the box, never installed, will lead to problems because of the materials it is constructed with being unsafe when compared to modern equivalents, or because they will have dried out internally. Original components are required for things like IF Transformers, variable tuning capacitors, vacuum tubes, and the like. 

Resistors and capacitors that are old stock should not be used, in my humble opinion, as they do not add any significant value to the functioning of the radio and will likely fail soon after installation.

If you are a stickler about the internal components appearing original then it is possible to stuff newer components into the old packaging of the obsolete versions, but it is a LOT of work for little value, as most people who see your radio will probably not disassemble it to see what's on the inside.

We do not stuff new components into old components due to the work and cost involved based on the actual benefits of doing so. If you'd like to do it yourself and have us install them afterward, then let us know and we'll see if we can work something out.

Antique radios can be very expensive. The reason behind this is actually quite simple. In order to sell a radio, you have to have one. In order to have one, we have to purchase one that will likely need restoring. Purchasing a fully restored radio for resale isn't wise as the price cannot be increased enough to make doing so worthwhile. 

The problem with purchasing a radio for restoration is that when people think they have an antique, they automatically assume it's worth $10,000 because it's old, even though it doesn't work at all, while in fact, it's value is around $50 not working. That's why you see these radios on eBay for ridiculous prices, and they've been on there for years with nobody willing to pay such a high price for a piece of junk. (All the while the person selling will say that he/she "knows what they've got and it's very rare and valuable because it's old, so it must be worth millions"). LOL!

So, when we purchase a radio for restoration and resale, we often have to pay high prices, then install the necessary parts to make it work and make it safe, then we have to figure in the hours of work it takes to make this happen. Polishing an old radio can take hours in and of itself.

Then you have to factor in the rarity. For example, a low-end radio like Arvin will not be worth as much as a high end radio like a Grundig or Telefunken or Blaupunkt. Not because it's no good, but just because there are thousands of them around.

Also, if you choose to purchase a radio for restoration/repair, don't fall into the "RARE" trap. 99% of the time, the "RARE" radios you see are not rare at all. Someone posting "RARE" is a red flag that you're going to pay way too much for a very common radio. If you have questions about the value of a radio you're going to sell or purchase, feel free to contact us with the model number and make. We'll let you know what it's worth. Most of the time the eBay prices are hundreds of dollars higher for a broken junk radio than they are for a fully restored version simply because of seller ignorance and greed.

One more thing... Don't fall for the "untested" radio on eBay. 90% of the time, "untested" means they plugged it in and it spewed sparks all over the room, or it means "I plugged it in and it didn't work, but if I say it doesn't work, then I can't charge as much.". And, if they don't have an internal shot, don't buy it as it's probably missing a ton of parts and has no tubes. Remember, no cord is also a red flag. These cords are very hard to come by these days and are very expensive now.

This one is so easy. Yes, we can. But, no, we won't. We are purists here and do not do modifications beyond restoring the original radio. We do not install bluetooth either. It's much cheaper to get a $30 AM or FM transmitter from Amazon and connect that to your phone or media device (FM is preferred if your tube radio has FM capabilities), and besides that, bluetooth through the radio's amplifier does not sound anywhere near as good as the radio sounds playing through AM or FM. Most bluetooth devices are cheaply made foreign devices that will fail after a few months of use, then you have to bring the radio back in to have it replaced. These cheap bluetooth devices transmit a very "tinny" sound which will be instantly recognizable as a fake input by anyone who's ever listened to a tube radio before. (I know, right?? Why would anyone want to install bluetooth onto an antique radio and cut the value in half??)

No, you should not operate your tube radio with the dial light burned out. The dial light is incorporated into the radio's circuitry in such a fashion as to ease the load on the rectifier tube. Running the radio without the additional ballast load will cause the rectifier tube to burn out long before its time. (A matter of weeks vs years.)

You should not replace the dial bulb with an LED light. LED lights do not pull the same amount of current (far less) as the original incandescent version and will cause the rectifier tube to burn out prematurely. (Besides, it looks ridiculous.)

Yes, we do sell radios that have been restored. However, we do not ship them because of the risks of damage and inspection required after going through the carrier for delivery. (The tubes need to be checked before connecting power to make sure they've not come loose.) These units are very old, and can be rather fragile. Frequently they arrive with broken dial glass (which can be next to impossible to find a replacement for) or completely smashed no matter how well packed they are. I personally had one that the camera caught the delivery driver dropping it to the ground from shoulder height, thus destroying it at the moment of delivery. You could actually hear the glass shatter on the camera.

This is why, unfortunately, we do not ship. You can pick the unit up from our shop, or if you are local, we can even deliver for an extra charge.