Yeah, a lot of electronics from that era appears to have been built by people who had not yet invented (or had no desire to use) the printed circuit board. It looks so messy its surprised they were able to make anything function, but they did.
I have a vintage car radio early 60s that is all transistor but no pcb board, all components are compacted on a small chassis and the 7 transistors just hang there, I am going to have a tough time restoring it
This radio is in excellent shape and would take not so much work to put factory-fresh again. The wires are not cracking and rotting. The capacitors, except for the electrolytics on the other side of the chassis are good film and disk ceramic types so should be still pretty good. The resistors are the excellent Allen-Bradley types so should still be in tolerance. Even the so-called “death caps” on the power entry are of a superior brand than the notorious Rifa types. They, too are probably ok. To fix it just replace the electrolytics with a reputable modern brand and then re-align the whole set and it will probably be good.
Believe me, I have restored radios that had all of those faults and made them work as well as when they came off the showroom floor and I know what can go wrong with what was once called a “top-of-the-line” set.
This is a keeper. If you plan to restore it then best of luck! For advice check out [AntiqueRadios.com](https://www.antiqueradios.com)
If you like this kind of stuff, check out Mr. Carlson’s Lab on YouTube. He opens up and restores all kinds of vintage equipment like this and is extremely approachable with the way he explains the inner workings and why they are that way.
This is how I build audio things for myself at home. As much of it point to point and on turret boards as I can. Repairability and serviceability are super important to me. Just because things CAN be super tiny and compact doesn’t mean they have to be…
Now you know why so many older electronics needed a solid whack on the side to fix problems: just need to rattle some shorting component back in position.
Back in the 60’s my father asked my grandfather for a radio that he desired. The one he wanted was advanced and expensive for my grandfather’s taste. So, my father showed him the same radio but as a kit he made himself during boarding school. I still have that radio of his. It amazed my when I took off the cover to check on a loose tube to see all the soldering he had done.
Wow, no wonder the germans replaced us
Almost Nasa level wiring and why they last forever or until a capacitor blows.
Looks exactly like my diy synth modules. Someday I’ll learn kicad, someday
Does it still work?
Back when I could understand what was going on just by looking at it.
This is pre-silicon boards, correct?
Feel bad for that switch pot… 😀
Not just England… everything from that pre transistor era looks a lot like that.
Yeah, a lot of electronics from that era appears to have been built by people who had not yet invented (or had no desire to use) the printed circuit board. It looks so messy its surprised they were able to make anything function, but they did.
Imagine fixing this?
Looks like typical todays software architecture.
This is absolutely the standard for electronics of that vintage.
Its called [point to point](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point-to-point_construction) technique and lasted into the 70s. It is actually very serviceable, understandable, and needs no special tools for repair.
I have a vintage car radio early 60s that is all transistor but no pcb board, all components are compacted on a small chassis and the 7 transistors just hang there, I am going to have a tough time restoring it
England, eh? Is it positive ground and leaking oil by any chance?
Is this what it looked like before circuit boards?
PCBs weren’t even a rumour
This radio is in excellent shape and would take not so much work to put factory-fresh again. The wires are not cracking and rotting. The capacitors, except for the electrolytics on the other side of the chassis are good film and disk ceramic types so should be still pretty good. The resistors are the excellent Allen-Bradley types so should still be in tolerance. Even the so-called “death caps” on the power entry are of a superior brand than the notorious Rifa types. They, too are probably ok. To fix it just replace the electrolytics with a reputable modern brand and then re-align the whole set and it will probably be good.
Believe me, I have restored radios that had all of those faults and made them work as well as when they came off the showroom floor and I know what can go wrong with what was once called a “top-of-the-line” set.
This is a keeper. If you plan to restore it then best of luck! For advice check out [AntiqueRadios.com](https://www.antiqueradios.com)
If you like this kind of stuff, check out Mr. Carlson’s Lab on YouTube. He opens up and restores all kinds of vintage equipment like this and is extremely approachable with the way he explains the inner workings and why they are that way.
This is how I build audio things for myself at home. As much of it point to point and on turret boards as I can. Repairability and serviceability are super important to me. Just because things CAN be super tiny and compact doesn’t mean they have to be…
This broke my OCD.
It’s kind beautiful in a strange way
1960s-era radio gear looks a lot like that in the US, too.
Ah. House fires.
This looks like a protein
Hello tag strip my old friend.
This picture perfectly sums up why the PCB was invented.
And this is the portable version
Weren’t printed circuit boards very expensive compared to just floating elements in the air back then?
So many capacitors ans (some) resistors to swap to prevent it from blowing up
Point to point. This is how the late great Bob Pease did lot of his work….should give some clout to the technique.
Now you know why so many older electronics needed a solid whack on the side to fix problems: just need to rattle some shorting component back in position.
If this and their repair interests you, you should check out Mr. Carslon’s Lab on YouTube.
That’s where the “smack it till it works” comes from. You fkn smack the loose wires into connection again.
If this frightens you, don’t look up Mr. Carlson’s Lab on YouTube.
Rats.
Yikes
I’m English and I’ve took apart lots of vintage radios and that’s by far the worst.
Back in the 60’s my father asked my grandfather for a radio that he desired. The one he wanted was advanced and expensive for my grandfather’s taste. So, my father showed him the same radio but as a kit he made himself during boarding school. I still have that radio of his. It amazed my when I took off the cover to check on a loose tube to see all the soldering he had done.
The amount of manual work that would’ve been needed to produce this is insane.