I’ve finished refurbishing this GE J-105 antique tube radio and am 99% happy with the results. My wife and I decided to leave the finish as it was and just clean it up. It did require a new grille cloth but other than some “Restor-a-Finish” and some wax, the exterior is original. The electronics were all updated and it works well and sounds fine.
The J-105 is a 10 tube console from 1940, GE used the marketing term “Golden Tone” to compete with the other makers who were pushing 10, 12, and 16 tube high end or audiophile consoles during this era. Another interesting feature is the “Beam-A-Scope” antenna which is a dual loop housed in a cardboard cylinder inside the back speaker cabinet. Once you have your AM station tuned in, you can turn the cylinder to get the best reception. Amazingly, it works as advertised!
I’m not sure where this radio lived in its prior life. The folks I bought it from last year threw a doily on it and used it as a plant stand, hence the water ring on the top. Once I got to the back and removed the chassis, I was amazed at how much crap had accumulated in and on it. The dirt was adhered in a thick layer by something like cigarette smoke or another amber like substance. I spent many hours cleaning the electronics, tube sockets, speakers and interior spaces.
While it could use a complete stripping and refinishing, I’ll do that later or leave it for the next owner.
Here is the required before picture:
GE J-105 081519 Back with the BEAM-A-SCOPE antenna
Hi,
The radio looks great. I have one as well and wondering the value of yours. I’m thinking about selling mine.
Thank you.
This is a tough question, a lot of the value depends on the condition of the radio, does it play, is it all there, will it require an update (which is normal if untouched)? Most radios from this era have electronics which are failing (not the tubes, surprisingly) and in some cases can be down right dangerous to fire up.
For the GE shown here, in my area, I’d ask $250 for it, which my wife thinks is too cheap, but I didn’t redo the cabinet to spec. Your location will drive some of the price, the coastal areas can go higher and the mid-country lower, same in Canada.
I monitor Craig’s List for old radios and see what does and doesn’t go locally, many people are looking for this vintage look, but if it doesn’t work, they’ll turn it into a cabinet, which is a horrible fate for an fine old radio.
Cheers!
Edit: If you look at the “before” photos in the post, you can see it was in pretty rough shape. I bought it for $50 and realized it might clean up and I might be able to update it, or not. I was lucky, it cleaned up nicely and there was nothing seriously wrong with it.
Awesome radio. Unfortunately my radio has been gutted and is only the cabinet. Any ideas as to where I could locate parts?
Hi Bill,
You can watch Craigslist or FB Marketplace and just maybe someone will be getting rid of one. They aren’t that common which will make the search more difficult.
We have an antique radio club here in the SF Bay area (The California Historical Radio Society) and they get a lot of donations which they will give or sell to members.
You might want to check in your area for such a club or check with your local antiques dealers to see if there is some dealer who specializes in old radios. You never know, you might be lucky.
I was happy to see there was other GE radios like mine still around…Just thinking of refinishing my dads who passed away in 2004 and had the exact same radio in his basement barbershop since I was born and that was 1954. Right now I am replacing the Dial Glass which I broke and the cloth that covers the speakers. I cleaned it up but the wood needs some love so I will attempt that once I get it all together. Then I will replace the tubes and see if I can get it to work. I think I like the darker color also. Thanks for sharing.
Good luck with your radio, please let me know how it works out. Just remember, surprisingly, the tubes are often in fine shape, even if very old. Take them out and check for loose bases or tops and clean them up well. If you can locate a radio club in your area, you may be able to test them. Often, it is the capacitors which leak due to age. If you do fire it up and it starts to squeal loudly, turn it off ASAP. That’s the sign of bad capacitors and they will have to be replaced.
Does anyone know how to set the push buttons on these GE golden tone models?
Hi – I have a schematic from nostalgia-air for this machine found here http://www.nostalgiaair.org/Resources/082/M0008082.htm – it looks like the presets are adjusted when the set is setup at the dealer, before the chassis is installed in the cabinet. The station-key pot is accessible from the front, you have to remove the knobs and buttons then unscrew the cover.
https://www.sergneri.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Screenshot-2023-10-07-153516.png
From the instruction manual:
Feathertouch-tuning keys
Nine Feathertouch-tuning keys are provided which six can be adjusted for automatic station selection. The key on the extreme left is designated Phono-Tele-FM and permits adapting this receiver for use with record players, etc. Send me an email and I will send pictures from the manual
Just picked one of these up for $14 – thought it would be neat project. Grill is trashed, smaller speaker is torn, beam a scope cardboard is split, power wire is frayed and bare copper exposed. Needs 1 knob,
that all said – is there anything odd about removing the chassis? hidden screws and so forth?
Not that I recall, be careful of the leads to the beam-o-scope, be sure to mark them well. Good luck with your project, they are great sounding radios!
https://www.antiqueradios.com/forums/index.php is where I got a ton of info when I build.
Just picked a J-105 up..first observation…is thevolume control also a power switch, it does not seem to click to an off position
Hi – no, the off is the first button on the far right, any of the other buttons turns the radio on.
Im so glad I found someone who did a good job on these….I picked one up for $10..a steal..speakers intact..Before pulling the chassis, im trying to rebuild that dang Beam A Scope..its tattered/ripped a bit..im thinking of rolling cardstock on the inside to firm it up, next I need to find a 24″ square grill cloth on ebay. So, my order of attack is Beam A Scope, chassis caps/resistors as needed and grill cloth and cabinet with Howards. The buttons are sticking but may be able to loosen them up once chassis is out.
I made a replica of the beam-o-scope graphics and plotted it out at FEDEX but it wasn’t a good fit so I simply taped up the original from the inside which held the bits together. That antenna was FULL of spider webs from ages ago, but that was easy to clean out. https://www.antiqueradios.com/forums/index.php has a boat load of good vendors for things like grill cloth.
https://www.radiodaze.com/
Radio Daze has been in the restoration parts business for years.
Hi John, I ended up putting a burlap jacket cover around the Beam A Scope which I had seen someone else do. It was just too weak to try to save. Pulled the chassis, and noticed one of the .002 1000V was cooked and not connected, I ordered 1000v ceramic discs, hopefully that works out…The other .002 1000v cap is hanging off Pin 1 of the corner 6V6 and appears to go to Pin 3, Would you happen to have a photo of the chassis underside, I am schematically challenged at times. I have 2 missing push buttons but thats for another day…thanks!