Looking for a Capehart in Arizona?

[Garret]

I wish I had the room!

http://www.estatesales.net/estate-sales/312462.aspx

[need4art]

I keep thinking that I need one of these but have no idea what I would be getting into. I beieve that this auction will be 15-20 minutes from where I live.

Gregg what do you think of this model?
Abe

[gregbogantz]

Hi Abe, That Capehart is a 111K2FM model. These date from the 1940-41 model years. They have the 16-E flipover changer which probably uses the early Astatic crystal cartridge. The reason that I'm hesitating somewhat in these descriptions is that Capehart made incremental changes to their models during production and not all the units with the same model number are completely the same in all details.

The biggest worry would be that this changer has potmetal castings in the record magazine and other of the cast parts. Capehart started the 16-E design with cast aluminum, but they had to revert to potmetal during WWII as aluminum use was restricted for wartime needs. Potmetal is infamous for warping, cracking, and breaking as we all know. If this changer has potmetal parts, there is a good chance that some of them are unuseable. The 100 series was one notch lower in wowee-zowiness from the pricier 400 series. But the differences were mostly in the cabinet designs. The tuner chassis were pretty much the same, but the amplifiers in the 100 series also were sometimes smaller (lower power) than in the comparable 400 models. But they were quite fine and I wouldn't hesitate to buy a 100 series machine if it's otherwise nice and in good condition.

You can bet that you'll have to do some work on the mechanics and electronics to restore any Capehart (or any other brand from this vintage) to proper safe operating condition. So be prepared to do that yourself or pay somebody else to do it. The electronics were well made with quality parts, so you usually don't have problems with the major parts like transformers. But the capacitors and some resistors will probably need replacement.

The tuner in this model has the the US broadcast AM band, some shortwave AM bands, and the US prewar FM band. That band was from 42 to 49MHz. It was abandoned after the war when the modern 88 to 108MHz band was opened for FM use. The prewar band is useless today - you probably won't receive anything on it but noise or maybe some civic emergency communications chatter. There is no convenient way to re-engineer the prewar receivers to receive the modern FM band, so you pretty much have to disregard that band on these prewar sets.

[Guest]

Hi Gregg,
Well since I would like to have one of these units in the future and you really seem to have a handle on them which unit should I look for?

In retrospect I do have someone who can go through the radio and amps but he is not much for the turntables. Pot metal parts seem to be an issue for these and the 10-50 Victor . But if there is a model that has less problems and would be a unit that be better to have thats what I should be looking for.

I also found out after I restored a Zenith floor model, I did the cabinet and my radio tech did the radio, that when he called me he told me that the FM part was usless. But this was a radio that my sister and I used to gather around and listen to them read the funny's on Sunday morning at my grandparents house. My son who lived on long Island got to know a relative of mine who had it stuck in his basement and asked him if I would like to have it. Long story short it is not worth what I have into it. But I had a group of people over and they saw the picture of me and my sister when we were kids lisitening to it, they thought it was great and when I turned it on and got old radio broadcasts they were amazed. I built one of those low wattage transmitters hooked it to a cd played and guess what old radio programs.

Thx for the help and if you have some advice I'll take it.
Abe

[gregbogantz]

Hi Abe, If you don't have any particular preference on the model years of Capehart that you are looking for, and you're mostly interested in getting a flipover changer that works reliably, I'd suggest you look for one of the postwar models that used the 41-E changer. To my knowledge, all of the 41-E changers were made with aluminum castings, and there should be no potmetal in them. This changer is a refinement of the earlier 16-E model which is more reliable and uses the better GE variable reluctance (VR) cartridge that also tracks at lower force than the prewar models. This cartridge was originally fitted with a "permanent" osmium stylus which is undoubtedly worn out by now. But you can fit this cartridge (or a similar refittable GE RPX or VR-II model) with a diamond stylus so that you don't have to change needles like was necessary with the early 16-E models. Attached are pictures of a 41-E changer and the headshell on the tonearm that is the easy way to identify a 41-E model changer.

Make sure that the tonearm headshell looks like the one pictured. Capehart also marketed some very early postwar models that used the earlier Pfanstiehl "strain-gage" pickup that they called "True-Timbre". The headshell for these is made of clear acrylic and does not have the large script Capehart logo printed on top. These cartridges have mostly failed from age and there is no easy way to replace them. It is possible to retrofit one of the True-Timbre cartridges with the GE VR, but the amplifier also must be modified. Capehart even offered a field modification kit for this purpose. But it's probably more effort than you want to get into.

The 41-E also includes a "play counter" as standard equipment that allows you to set the number of record sides you want to hear before the unit shuts off automatically. The Capehart magazine system provides continuous play - the records just keep getting recycled thru the magazine until you shut the machine off or the play counter does it for you. The early 16-E changers did not have the play counter as a standard feature, but Capehart made an optional accessory play counter available for them. Most prewar sets do not include the optional play counter.

The Capehart models that use the 41-E changer include the letters "N" or "P" in the model number which indicates that they are postwar model years. These sets also include the postwar FM radio band from 88 to 108MHz, so you can use them to tune today's FM stations. As I said previously, some of the prewar sets had the prewar FM band which is useless today. As with the prewar sets, the postwar sets came in both the 100 and the more deluxe 400 model series. The postwar Capeharts are excellent performers and you'll enjoy owning one.

[need4art]

Hi Gregg,
Thx for the advice and help. You are right what I am looking for is a changer with a Radio that I can use. I bought a collection of around 5000 78's from a client many of which are newer than what our machines call for but much of the music is what I like. I looked at a 10-50 for a bit but felt that I was limited to what I was going to play and while I could go the turntable and amp route I thought that this might fit me better. I have been looking at craigslist and now ebay and will continue to look to find what you are recommending. If you happen to find a unit let me know with a PM if you will.
I am sure that They take some work and while I have someone that can do the resistor and capacitor replacements he said he would rather have teeth pulled than work on turntables. So I am on my own in that area so if I found one that worked, could study it, I could probably handle it when it stopped working. To start with one that does not function to start with might make me nuts.

Abe