Sears Silvertone Console Shelbyville, Tn. Free

[danrclem]

Looks like it might be a decent looking console and the price is right.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/it ... a722191877

[electra225]

It is in nice shape and you can't beat "free". I don't see where it says solid state anywhere. Might it be at least partially tube?

[William]

I think it says solid state under the three slide switches. It looks to be in the higher end scale so probably sounds good.

Bill

[danrclem]

That's where it's at Bill. I had to magnify the picture in order to see it.

[William]

Are you going to add it to your collection? Remember, there is always room for one more.

Bill

[electra225]

I see that now, Bill. I missed it earlier. I put one about that age on the burn pile because those rocker switches on it were bad and unobtanium. It was a lower-line instrument than this one, so this one might be repairable. The one I had was built by Warwick.

[danrclem]

Are you going to add it to your collection? Remember, there is always room for one more.

Bill

I'd like to get it but there just ain't enough room in the house. I've already got a couple of them stacked. I posted it on here just in case somebody near would want it.

Edit: I just checked and it's gone. Hope somebody on here got it.

[William]

For the price, I figured it would not last long.

Bill

[hermitcrab]

Great units .... except for the crescent changers ... junk IMO, I wish I could find a good used one ....have an extra VM 1500 changer that I might try to swap the crescent out of in my silvertone... most of the under deck parts are made out of plastic ... and once they WOW out on their bearings they never work right again...stalls and jerky performance... and the idler rests against the motor and turntable even when shut off...

[TC Chris]

I made a little manual wire pull-back for the idler on my '42 GE LC-628 for when it is just sitting, which is most of the time. It always went bump-bump-bump, but then, playing 78s through a crystal cartridge and a 5" speaker ain't hi-fi anyway, and I'm sure nobody worries back in those days.

Speaking of lo-fi... I have been thinking of the outdoor ice skating rink the city maintained when I was a kid. It was a big oval in the middle of the horse-racing track at the county fairgrounds. After school, my Mom would load up the station wagon with whatever kids were around and drop us off at the rink. There were two warming houses, one for each gender and carefully segregated. They were old WW II era Quonset huts that had been part of a large wartime temporary housing project in town. They ended up all over town after the war as shops and storage sheds. In the boys' unit, the caretaker held forth, stoking the iron pot-bellied stove with coal and playing 78s over the P.A. system. He had the amp unit with a 78 player on top. There were 2 or 3 reentrant horn P.A. speakers on poles. You can imagine the sound quality. When he spotted somebody misbehaving he'd crank up the mic and call them out. I don't know who stoked coal in the girls' unit. I do remember the coal smoke smell.

Chris Campbell