Posted by Wayne Parham on October 01, 2002 at 21:39:23

In Reply to: Re: Grill Cloth posted by Till E. on October 01, 2002 at 13:41:11:

That's good information, thanks. We used to build speaker grilles, and they were really great looking things made of wicker stretched over a frame. But the place that made 'em wanted a fortune, so we stopped having them made pretty quickly. Open cell foam works very well too; You can just cut to size and attach with Velcro. For a retro look, some of the grille cloth sold by Antique Electronic Supply is very attractive too.

Speaking of retro, check out the latest addition to my growing radio collection. I always wanted one of these:

Zenith TransOceanic G500 Shortwave Radio

It's a Zenith TransOceanic G500, which was made from 1946 to 1949. I always wanted one of these, and was made available that it would be auctioned. So I bid on it, and was really sort of emotionally attached so that I probably paid too much. I guess I'm a sucker, but it sure is clean.

Zenith TransOceanic G500 Shortwave Radio, rear view

This view shows that the radio has been kept in very good shape, and that even the owners manual has been kept intact. Then again, I think most owners of these radios kept the manuals with them; It wasn't like other product offerings in that the manual was more important to owners of something like this than it might have been for the owner of a table AM radio.

In hindsight, I understand that lots of these and other similar radios are auctioned on E-Bay every day. So if any of you are interested in stuff like this, you might go there and get one.