People often ask me if i had to do a lot of work to restore a radio. While some cabinets are in good enough shape that they can be cleaned up and the finish refreshed, many are just a tad rougher. I sometimes buy a radio that is somewhat of a basket case to give myself a challenge if it is a desirable model. And you can imagine, those radios come a lot cheaper than the ones in mint condition. The work on the electronics also varies widely. Sometimes, a replacement of the failed parts, especially the capacitors, is sufficient. For the full restoration effort, I tear down the entire radio, removing all of the parts off of the chassis, clean everything, and rebuild it to look like factory fresh. Here is a gallery of before and after photos of some of my tough restorations.
Traveler, Photographer, Maker Hobbyist, Grandpa