PHILCO Model 20 “Baby Grand” Lowboy (1930)
Given that RCA introduced Armstrong’s superheterodyne in their first AC operated Radiola 60 in 1927, this Philco radio is a late blooming TRF broadcast receiver. Yes, I gave this radio 6 full coats of finger-tip applied varnish. The grill cloth is not an exact replacement, as that stuff was not yet available in 1978 when I restored this set. The original cloth had a kid’s footprint directly in the center of the speaker… bullseye! A fellow traveler in the Houston Vintage Radio Association sold me this then-unhappy-looking radio for $12. It has push-pull 71A’s in the audio output. The curved band of veneer at the bottom center is pecan wood; I should have replaced that with Zebra veener, but that kind of veneer was not available in Houston, TX. The bird’s eye maple around the dial area is completely “lovely to look at.” There is a 1978 shot of me refinishing this radio in an internal publication called the “TI-er”, a Texas Instruments, Inc. newsletter.
There was a huge water mark on the top of this set. Repeated bleaching of this “top” in the Houston sun fixed that problem. Yes, that “Homer Formby” varnish makes a mirror finish! Watching those ads of Homer on TV taught me that bare finger-tip technique of applying varnish. A little bit of varnish goes a long way! Of course today, such an ad would not be allowed on TV because varnish (or is it sunshine?) kills people!