Astor BPJ Radio Repair 1958 

Dave... I know what the names of parts are in electronics and I know about resistance, ohms and volts, etc (thanks to my excellent science teachers in High School here in Australia). I know how to use a soldering iron but, for the life of me, I couldn't a hundredth of what you do in sussing out and repairing these old sets. Brilliant...just brilliant! I watch your videos because they are so relaxing, you have the most personable manner and voice and you are restoring pieces of Australian manufacturing history. This set was probably made the year I was born. It was made here in Melbourne either at EIA's Clayton plant or the South Melbourne plant (more likely). It breaks my heart to see the remnants of a once-great industry. Having toured the Clayton plant as a kid (I had a cousin who worked there) I was awe struck! It was big enough to fit three jumbo jets, I reckon, and it was a hive of activity because they had three whitegoods lines, a television line, a radio line and a record-making plant. The ladies who did the assembly and wiring work were incredible to watch...their dexterity was amazing. The other thing was (and not many people know this) that EIA also made wonderful electronics for the defence industry and had already made excellent prototype colour tv sets for the eventual switch over the colour. When Philips took control all that work in colour sets was chucked out in favour of the ubiquitous Philips K9A chassis but that's another story... P..S. Dave...could you please put up your GMAIL address again...ta.

Wow! Between your experience and ingenuity, and with specialized parts from Carls, there's nothing you can't restore. Looks great!

For those cracks in the front, I believe you can improve them by running superglue in from the back off the end of a pin.

It's so nice you finished off your collection of radios you had when you were young. I can remember my Mum's and Dad's portable radios and of course the ubiquitous "radiogram" that we had and although they're long gone I'd get really nostalgic if I saw them again.

Always enjoy the tongue-in-cheek surprises at the end of your restorations!

Another great restoration - those new knobs really make it 'pop' . Love the old tube tester too !

A nice easy one for you this week Dave. I don't want to sound awful but I do enjoy it when the wooden cabinet radios fall apart in a heap. I enjoy watching you make them like new again. Not much fun for you but we all love the workmanship

Your restoration videos have become my favorite, now obviously the contrast of a horrible looking radio restored to its factory beauty is more satisfying, but a radio like this that makes for fond memories as its from your childhood sure makes sense. In a way, the better state its in before restoration, the better the end result, cant fix things that are too far gone.

After the valve testing you should have said "A cup of tea, a Bex, and a good lie down" but non-Australian viewers may not know this. Keep up the good work.

Again, well done David. I'm following you and starting radio restorations, but I'm still learning and you are a kind of an inspirational guru for me. thanks for the videos.

lol, your humour cracks me up! I didn't like the look of it when I first saw it, but after you cleaned it up it came out nice. The new knobs made a huge difference to the look of the radio. The dial glass came out really well. "Tone knob is broken, but who uses a tone knob anyway?" lol Wicked! Edit:Typo!

Attention to detail David is highly commendable. Thanks for showing us the right way to do it. Take care!

Nice job and the new knobs finished it beautifully. I always thought it funny when old folk wanted a bex and a good lie down but now I know exactly what they meant.

Every time you test your radios its playing some good classic songs 😁

Way back when I was a soldier, we had to repaint numbers on the Jeep bumpers. What we did was to cover them with masking tape, then with a razor blade, cut out the letters and numbers then paint the white numbers on the olive drab bumpers. (this was WAY back before camo paint became a thing and EVERYTHING in the Army was either black (boots -tires-etc) or olive drab green (SERGEANT I want to be a lean green fighting machine!)

David Tipton doing his Colin Clive impersonation while testing tubes on that... contraption: "It's alive. It's alive! IT'S ALIVE!" Always a perk to see your vids. Another good 'n.

Nice radio David, and looks great now, the sound is so much better than you'd expect, another job well done

Excellent, look how attractive these older sets are.

Ah, memories, nice to keep them going sometimes. Nice quality radio. Cheers

This kind of radio remenber my teenage time, at my home we used hear music and news in a GE radio, good time !!!! Congratulation - Sao Paulo - Brazil

This Radio is the third you've restored that I've not long worked on. This one in particular I only just put in back in its cabinet yesterday. Mine has a white cabinet but had a big stain on top. Carl's has quite a few items that you can't get anywhere else. There used to be a couple more selling Caps and what not but have disappeared so Carl's is the best of who's left. I've been looking at a 3D printer to make cabinet parts .Be nice if you could make a whole cabinet but the printer would have to be huge and I'm not sure how the plastic would handle heat. So far I've been making the knobs on the lathe with a brass insert that way their not so delicate.

Nice piece of restoration work Dave. 👍

Brilliant as always David!

Nice thing to start my Friday morning off with. I’m sure it evoked some fond memories getting this up and running again. I have a 1950’s Telecictor Cub. A rare thing from the West Midlands, U.K. with only a few thousand being made. It was my grans so fond memories whenever I look at it. So good to see more reproduction parts being made so these great looking old sets can get a new lease of life. Another nice job there and look forward to your next project as always.

My family had the same model in our kitchen. Great radio that has stood the test of time, Ours also needed the caps replaced and also a couple of electrolytics over the years. Radio was on for around 8 hrs a day. Only one suggestion, if i may The mains wiring to the power on/off switch, if you were worried about the closeness to the power transformer, you could use a bit of heat shrink over the switch terminals and a bit of sheet plastic ( old ice cream lid cut down ) glued to the side of the transformer. Other than that another one "done and dusted". Love your work, keep it up.

Very very nicely done sir.

A very nice tribute to your late brother, Dave! And excellent result as always.

A really nice job!

As always, an excellent, detailed restoration. And a great pleasure to watch and learn, so thank you David, for taking the time and effort to show us the techniques involved. Brilliant!

Back to this one once more as I work through more of the hours that God keeps piling on my plate, reminds me of the AM/FM/Cassette set that I had in Vietnam. It was stolen from me when I went home on emergency leave as my son was having a problem coming into the world. I never found another quite like it, it was a Hitachi. Well about a year ago now I found one on Ebay (could be the same one?? Doubt that!) and ordered it, I repaired it and now it sits beside my bed as it did in my bunker in Nam back in 1970.

Always enjoy your Videos Dave. My grandparents had the same model only in Burgandy. Keep up the great work

Thank you Dave - time with you came along at just the right time for me. Lovely neighborhood and your Sunshine State looks very much like our Sunshine State!

4 nice knobs Dave. Thanks for another interesting restoration.

Good work Dave! Cheers Mate!!

i enjoyed every bit of it.

Loving it David

Well done, as always, David. Cheers!

Great job David.

Greetings from an American living in Canada (thank goodness). Thank you for posting your work. It is always brings joy to my weekends see these in my inbox. I also restore radios myself as a hobby and it’s always great to see innovative solutions from restorers like yourself. A true fan you have in me!

Beautiful radio, sounds great too!

Neat old radio you have there David. It does have a very good sound output. Thanks for all you do for the viewers, i always click your videos when a new one comes out!

The radios used to be so cool looking. And it does sound great. Another great job. Looking forward to the next one.

Another beautiful job David. John

Another beauty saved from the scraphead! Nice work as always David!

Great radio & great sound, well done David!

That chassis is pretty clean for a 1958 vintage radio. Looking back I can't remember my childhood radios but I'm 70 yrs old lol. Well I would have never thought of a lens cleaning kit to clean that plastic dial plastic great idea. Great looking and sounding radio.

A very nice resto David as usual, I do like your videos.

Ola David sou do Brasil mas amo asistir seus vídeos de restauração de rádio antigo sempre vou asistindo em série eu amo porque eu so aposentado na bancada de concreto de rádio e tv muita lembrança hojo coleciono alguns radio vintage para não me esquecer dos meus tempo aurios o mais parabens para você.

I learn a lot every time you for video. Thank you.

radio came up nice and clean good job done

Once again another entertaining and instructive video.

Great work as always, Dave! Regarding the cracks in the transparent plastics there's epoxy stuff with very low surface tension used to repair cracks in glass or plexiglass. You apply it with a syringe like thingy and it's getting "sucked" in to the crack and makes it practically invisible. Then just scrape the excess off and polish it. Seems you have an automotive shop nearby that probably would have it. :)

Hi David. Another great video with a great result. I'm really enjoying your channel. I also like the way you explain things in a easy to follow manner. This helps to make your video's so interesting and a pleasure to watch. Keep up the good work. Cheers Chris.

Always good to see you. I always learn from your videos. Thanks! Also thanks for the web links. Take Care :-)

Looks great!

i have watched just about all your videos now and what a difference from the earlier. they are much more creative and the delivery is perfective. I appreciation the time it takes to produce these videos. The content has the right balance of technical know how and humour, well done. I always look forward to each and every episode. Bloody hell, I've never written some much in a comments before. many thanks for your efforts! ps the brasso is a great tip.

Very Good job david 🌹🌹👍

Nice job David.

Excellent-a new video! I shall enjoy this.

Nice, those knobs are great

Great job, as always, David! I enjoy the fragments of classic pop and rock when you’re tuning around. “No Milk Today” sounded great, and early in the video, a tiny bit of “Express Yourself.” Doo Wah Diddy Diddy! What a fine old radio!

Dave, you really pulled back the curtain on this one. I pictured you living in a house with a broad porch in the outback like in "Quiggley Downunder." The picture of your street really killed the illusion. I'll get over it with a cup of tea, a bex, and little lie down.

That's a lovely radio, very nice design. And excellent results, as always! I like the "these are not the Droids we're looking for" Jedi gesture when changing caps. I need to learn that trick, oh Mighty Master. I can think of many, many applications.

Hi I'm back! That was Amazing......That style,the beauty..the Nostalgia.Wow.That's a Radio that is a Radio. 50"s for sure.Thank's for video.Just taking it all in.Wow.You take care OK.

Muy buen trabajo como siempre, felicitaciones

That's a nice story about your brother and your childhood, thanks for that mate. 'Scuse me now, I seem to have a bit of grit in my eye...

I like your radio stations! Way better that what we have on AM. Really fine restoration, it looks great!

I'm still trying to absorb every bit of the awesome radiogram restoration and here comes another one! You're My School of the air David🥰

Same here not shown on main listing. Nice video as usual only found this one as I was re-watching some of the older videos and was looking to watch them back to back. Excellent work David your getting as good as Paul Carlson.

Good job once again, thank you. It occurs to me, that all radios of the 50s-60s had bakelite cabinets rather than timber. I did my Radio apprenticeship in 1960 in Germany and at that time I recall only Phillips had a little bakelite radio. All other German makes had timber cabinets.

Turned out better than i expected. Doesn't surprise me though. You do such fine work.

Another nice radio David and what a difference it makes with the new knobs, "I'll take an aspirin and go and lay down" cracked me up lol.

From Italy: I have been following your channel for a long time, you are BRAVO and professional !!👍👍

Another enjoyable adventure. Thanks.

I like how the radios of that time period utilized some of the design aspects of that era's automobiles. (i.e., the front grill, etc.) . . . I also find myself being somewhat nostalgic lately. Nice video, David.

All good great video and I picked up a few clues on polishing plastic.

That was a great straightforward restore. A good alternative to listening to Any Questions on BBC Radio 4, which is full of politicians and hot air. Keep up the good work; I can hardly wait for the next one.

Fantastic job Dave it looks almost brand new with the new knobs and clean up 10 out of 10 for your effort brill.

Do wah dity! Beautiful radio. Wish I had one. Nice work as always. I'm jealous of your knowledge and motor skills. Stay happy and healthy David....Cheers!

A nice easy one for a change! Bring back the memories of youth, good stuff! Some of the big box hardware stores here in the U.S. have started stocking 6 foot (3M) extension cords both in 2 and 3 prong with the cloth covering, very reasonable price. Just cut the end off that you don't want. I have repaired a lot of headlights, I find that moving only one direction, not in circles is the quickest way to get through the process. Each time you change grit you change the direction by 90 deg until you see that all of your marks are gone. I start depending on the plastic at about 600 grit wet and dry paper, use water as a lube. Finish with 6000 grit then polish. Circles will give you swirl marks and make it very hard to see if you have removed all of the prior grit marks. You are just working harder than you need to. I like your knobs... that might sound a bit odd out of context ! LOL!

Was wondering how you were going to do the Segway to the knobs, OMG, LMAO when I saw that , very funny... love the way the dial window came out, need to remember that, thank you David for the video.

I REALLY 😴 like the "V" shaped speaker 🔊 grille!! This has to be the Chevy Bel Air of radios 📻!! 1958 is a year very worthy 👏 of that. I'm not sure if the speaker in this radio is field coil, or permanent magnet. Bakelite case, or are ya gonna tell me different? This is one radio I haven't commented on, so I 🤷 thought I'd drop ya a line. I hope that the dial light ✨️, and dial cord were good 👍. Your friend, Jeff.

Great work, as usual. Those knobs will look even better with a bit of patina from wear on them.

LOVE tube gear Good restore from down south near LISMORE

Amazing job smart 📻

*Triple* Thumbs-Up, David

I have one of these radios - not restored yet, but will get around to it --- thanks for the help

Great job as always, I use car rubbing compound on plastics, works very well, also brings Bakelite to a mirror shine. Those new knobs really finish off the set nicely.

Another great restore ! It sounds great and looks great too. I had an American Five and listened to it all night also.. The song I remember that came on every morning was "Red Rubber Ball" by Cyrkle. I have those words embedded in my head forever!

I thoroughly enjoyed that 44 minutes David. The radio is a great reminder of your brother and good times unfortunately long gone. I was Browsing on Ebay the other day for the hifi separates I bought in the 60's when I started work. It's all there, the amp turntable and speakers. I was tempted to buy them to remind me of my youth but retro hifi is pretty expensive now and I'm just too tight fisted to open my wallet. Ah well the memories are just as good anyway.

For some reason this one is unlisted.Glad I was checking up on the channel :)

Great job as always! I think the new Knobs made the radio GLOW! P.S. when I clean the tar from smoke, I use a product called "Purple Power concentrated" it just dissolves the gunk.

Mr Astor may have been a plain jane radio but you make him sing!! great video David as always

What a beautiful radio! Would love to have it in my home, but I have 120 volts here so it wouldn't work very well. Thanks for another great video!

Beautiful...

That is a prity radio! David It's always fun watching you work! lol

Working like hell. Even the virus gets jealous.

Thanks for that, good start to my long weekend, your channel cheers me up, time to get up, for some breakfast,

Dave, Well done with the Astor as usual. Refering to Jerker Fridh, School of the air by David Tipton sounds really good. I also have one of those Palec Valve/Tube testers , and it's not user friendly at all. The Brain Box works overtime whenever I use it. Looking forward to your NEXT RADIO ADVENTURE.

Hello again David, i must say i really enjoyed this one because it got us to know you a little more. I of course don't have a clue as to how big a family you grew up in, but i know now you had at least one brother and have fond memories of the time spent with him. Your narration of it brought me back to a time where as a kid the radio in the kitchen was the most important part of our lives when i was young. Living in Canada we have to deal with many snow storms and blizzards during the winter months and although the winters have been less snowy for the past 20 years or so (no doubt due to climate change), in the 60's and 70's it was a common occurence to close down schools during bad snow storms in order to remove all the snow from the streets. The school closing were always announced very early on the radio first. So whenever it had been snowing all night we the four children would gather in the kitchen just to listen to the radio to see if our school had indeed been closed or not. I remember how we would burst in joy when they said our school was closed. Then we would all put on our snow suits and go play outside in the snow. Our favourite sport was to climb all the way up to the third story balcony and jump into the deep snow. Sometimes my little brothers would get buried so deep i had to use a shovel to dig them out. It would make my mom freak out and i could see her panic and scream through the kitchen window. But there was never any casualties aside from a little snow getting inside our suits. My personal record after what we refer to as the storm of the century in 1974 getting over 5 feet of snow in one day, was to jump all the way down from the roof of the building. To this day i still hold the bragging rights around the neighbourhood, for being the only guy to have done it and lived to tell the tale. Also watching you bring this one back to life i was thinking to myself: ''Man that looks so easy for him''. Thank's for sharing sir i really savoured it.