1930's Silvertone Model 1904 Radio Repair Journal and Photos
by Chad Hauris, Retro Electronics and Audio Lab, Midland, TX. 11/17/06, updated 11/30/06

This Silvertone, from around 1936, had extensive repairs done by its owner but needed some tough problem spots fixed. We installed some new capacitors and resistors, a fuse in the power line, a dial lamp, remounted the volume control, and rewired the speaker leads.

Silvertone 1904 chassis as brought to us.
Chassis as brought to us.

Repairing wiring in the IF transformer.
Replacing wiring in the IF transformer.

Bottom view of the SIlvertone 1904 chassis, finished.
Bottom view, after repairs. New wirewound resistors were installed in the speaker field coil circuit...the field coil circuit is used to provide bias voltage for the 6F6 output tube, rather than being in the high voltage positive supply.

Testing the Silvertone 1904.
Testing the chassis.

Top view of the Silvertone 1904 chassis.
Top view of the chassis. The volume control is an unusual design: it uses the 2 coils of the second IF transformer, at the left. The distance between the coils is varied to adjust the volume.

Completed Silvertone chassis.
Testing the completed chassis. The volume control is assembled in this view: one coil is attached to the chassis and another to a bracket on the volume control shaft. We installed a dial lamp as the original one was missing.
Also, the tuning dial has an unusual design. A large metal disc is attached to the tuning capacitor. Holes let the dial lamp light through. The disc is driven by friction against the tuning shaft.

Silvertone volume control.
Closeup of the volume control.

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