The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I was checking Facebook the other day (I really need to stop ), and I saw an ad for a RE-57 not too far from me. I clicked on it and the seller pretty much said, "I bought this just for the cabinet and have no interested in the electrical components. FREE to who ever wants them". I couldn't convince her to do a swap with a spare cabinet I had to use for her bluetooth conversion project, so I was only able to get the parts. She told me that that radio worked over messenger a day or so before.

So I get there to pick up the parts, and she had the radio, and turntable/motor on the porch with the box of tubes. The first thing I noticed was that the electrical chord into the radio had been cut. Turns out when I went inside to remove the amp from the cabinet, that she cut even more of the wires . OH well . It appears that it really did work when she got it... and now it's totally NOT functional. She just wanted it to paint the cabinet, and turn it into a bluetooth thing. I really cannot believe that her solution to removing the radio and turntable was to take scissors (or maybe even wire cutters) and just snip the wires. I was able to take every electrical component from the cabinet.

The good news is that all of the tubes tested really good, and the induction disc motor runs really quietly. Hopefully re-wiring everything isn't too difficult, and I'll have a functional RE-57! At some point I will need to find a cabinet to put all the parts into.

Cheers,

David

It should be quite a challenge, but you are up to it!

Well David, as I said over the phone when we discussed this machine, the lady was not having one of her better ideas. Now that you mention she cut all the wires, that REALLY was dumb of her.

Good luck finding a spare cabinet; if you can find an empty RE-57 cabinet (perhaps from one that was gutted to get the amp, when they went through that eBay fad of sending Electrola amplifiers overseas & calling them 'Western Electric' products--which is why RE-45's aren't as numerous as they were awhile ago) I bet you'd be able to rebuild it.

David, you are in danger of becoming an addict with hoarder tendencies...
When you say "Free", sorta... I hope you didn't pay anything for this pile of parts...

No I didn't pay anything for the pile of parts. The only thing I spent on this trip was a tank of gas. I don't even really mind that I don't have the cabinet. I really enjoyed learning how things work. First it was the spring motors, so now it's time for for electric phonographs. It was a bit of driving...but I listened to my 78's for the whole ride, so it was a great day.

I will probably make a cabinet for it once I finish fixing it. I don't even have a whole lot of space left

David

A possible idea-- something along the lines of the Kurtzmann glass phonograph. Acrylic would be easy enough to work, and you could refinish the components themselves or polish them-- Mirrors could let the tubes be a visual highlight & the entire speaker itself could have a curved spruce bit like a bandshell behind it to serve as an acoustic resonator. You could go with a more Art Deco concept-art design with this, taking the curved lines of the tonearm & getting your ideas from that.

Still good to keep nice parts out the landfill.

(Edit: here's a Kurtzmann someone restored. It's nice.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q96gqa2Ds9w

I sure hope that a RE 57 case pops up in the near future. I see empty radio cases for sale frequently so I would expect one will eventually come up. Good luck.

audiophile102 wrote: Wed Aug 04, 2021 7:50 pm I sure hope that a RE 57 case pops up in the near future. I see empty radio cases for sale frequently so I would expect one will eventually come up. Good luck.

I hope so too!

David

Such a shame a perfectly good unit was hacked apart by the seller - but glad you were able to salvage all the mechanics.

Did it even come with the microphone and pickup weight?

Yes, I have seen a few 57 cabinets for sale around here (western PA) over the last couple months so I hope a good donor won’t be long in coming for you! Although the Kurtzmann idea suggested above would be cool as an alternative approach

I hope you know I was just kidding... If you can put it back together, that would be great...

Speaking of the Kurtzmann, someone should make an acrylic case for an Edison Standard...