My Arborphone 45 is a combination of two Arborphone 45 radios. The first radio consisted of the table top radio along with the speaker console. The table top suffered severe shipping damage and was not suitable to restore. The lower speaker console survived the shipping experience unscathed. Sometime later I acquired a second Arborphone 45 table top radio that was restorable. After restoring a few battery radios this was my first AC radio restoration. The Arborphone 45 radio is unique relative to other Arborphones in that you can find a published schematic. Actually one can find two different representations of the Aborphone 45 circuitry. After proving out the coils in the RF section I found that all three of the transformers in the AF section had at least one open coil. I checked the transformers in the chassis that was damaged and found that all three of the transformers were good. I performed a transformer transplant.
The next task was to replace the electrolytic capacitors in the power section. Per the schematic there are four 2uF capacitors. In the Arborpone 45 these four capacitors are encapsulated in a rectangular container full of tar. After removing the contents of the capacitor container, I installed four new 2uF capacitors along with new cloth insulated wire that matched the original wire in color and size. I did not replace the tar.
I did a check on the other components and found everything else to be okay.
The speaker was missing from the speaker cabinet. After a couple of attempts to get a vintage dynamic speaker to work I installed a modern PM speaker with an impedance matching transformer. I did not do any modification to the cabinet, the new speaker “sled” is mounted using the same screw hole pattern that the original speaker used.
I did a check on the other components and found everything else to be okay.
The speaker was missing from the speaker cabinet. After a couple of attempts to get a vintage dynamic speaker to work I installed a modern PM speaker with an impedance matching transformer. I did not do any modification to the cabinet, the new speaker “sled” is mounted using the same screw hole pattern that the original speaker used.
After connecting an antenna and ground, the radio just played. It has a bit of AC hum but it is tolerable. I discovered that the power switch did not turn off the radio. I assumed a bad power switch but the problem was actually introduced when a previous owner had installed the new power cord incorrectly.
So the radio plays pretty well but in hind sight I wished I had not restored it to a working radio. Other than the new power cord and new wires connecting new electrolytic capacitors the rest of the radio is 80+ years old. I do not feel comfortable just plugging it in and letting it play without keeping an eye on it. I believe I was lucky in getting this radio to play. A latter attempt to restore another Arborphone 45 ended in failure.
So the radio plays pretty well but in hind sight I wished I had not restored it to a working radio. Other than the new power cord and new wires connecting new electrolytic capacitors the rest of the radio is 80+ years old. I do not feel comfortable just plugging it in and letting it play without keeping an eye on it. I believe I was lucky in getting this radio to play. A latter attempt to restore another Arborphone 45 ended in failure.
I have seen two versions of the tuning escutcheon. The one on the left provides the model number and the one on the right does not.
An ad from “The House Beautiful” magazine. The date on the top of the page is January 1929. The date was cropped off to make the page fit in my scanner. The model number is not mentioned anywhere in the ad.
Thelma Todd was a movie actress in the late 1920s and per her biography, "The Ice Cream Blonde", was contracted "to show off the new Arborphone radio unit". There is no way to know for sure but the women in the print ad to the left and Thelma Todd shown below are very similiar in appearance.
