Pilot Little Maestro 1939 Early version SOLD
A fine little 4 valve plus rectifier in very good condition, offering Medium and Long wave reception.
If you have ever seen Good Night Sweetheart , the same model is on the shelf in the public house. The radio's were first produced in February 1939 and the chassis was fitted into several alternative small table cabinets, this one being Walnut.
These radio's are interesting for a number of reasons, first the small size only 30cm wide, 14 cm high and 20cm tall, and due to its small size and as a AC/DC radio, hence no transformer the dropping of the HT to feed the valve heaters was undertaken with a tapped line cord ballast resistor !, what that infact meant you had a long mains cable around 10 feet in lenght and when switched on and the cable often being curled up resulted in a 100 watt of heat radiating from it. It worked very well indeed, today we have them as electric blankets. Then time passes, years later the next owner feels that cable is to long and reduces it, those valves seem to be getting brighter, then one day the original cable is not working, then of course the fun starts. The new owner fits a brand new mains cable and switches on " flash " did i just see someone take a photograph or did those valves attempt to go into orbit.
The moto of the story is with any vintage or period radio check for information before you attempt to turn it on.
This radio no longer has the original ballast lead, and someone in the past managed with a couple of valve changes added a transformer, brilliant idea, no heat and no extra dropper sections required. Perfect set up
The radio has had all the standard componets replaced and all the electrolitic capacitors up-graded, the original one visible on the top chassis is for show only. The aerial is a long wire and unlike a number of them where the wire was fitted around the base for storage this one is fitted into the back chassis, see photo's, when in your own home , just unwind it and drop it down and will work well. If you are looking for a small 1940's radio, this a little gem. Comes complete with 1 years gurantee