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View Full Version : Silvertone Model 70 Wire Recorder


DaveInVA
09-19-2011, 12:58 PM
http://www.braveknight.com/images/S70FC.jpg


Sears Silvertone Model 70

My Dad bought this thing new in the '40's after WWII to record his Ham Radio conversations (W9ETP). He seems to have gotten tired of it pretty quickly and put it back in the box and into a closet for years until he gave it to me as a kid. My first recording device ever! Somehow it survived the abuse I gave it. In fact this thing still looks basically new. The head moves up and down to evenly wind the wire on the spools. Even the wire time used counter still works. Still has all the original accessories in great shape and even the leatherette looks almost new. I had to replace a filter cap and clean the controls and oil a couple of bearings but it works and plays as new. Still has the original wire it came with. It has a late '40's Braves game on it. I listened to all one hour of the wire and the announcer never mentioned who they were playing! I remember playing this very wire as a kid. It still has the brittle plastic leader tied to the end of the wire that helps you connect the wire to the big take up reel and it also covers the outside of the feed spool when not in use to keep the wire from coming undone and falling off the spool. I also have about 30 other spools of wire that I have yet to play. A few will be of me experimenting with recording off the radio and friends. Most the rest are likely to be Dad's Ham Radio stuff. Probably as close to an NOS one you can find. And its not for sale.


http://www.braveknight.com/images/S70FO.jpg
http://www.braveknight.com/images/S70T.jpg
http://www.braveknight.com/images/S70TS.jpg
http://www.braveknight.com/images/S70P.jpg

Dave

vinyldavid
09-19-2011, 01:06 PM
That thing is freakin gorgeous! My first recording device is long gone, I must have killed it when I was 3 or 4. I've heard playback from a couple webster machines and I'd love to find one locally sometime.

DaveInVA
09-19-2011, 01:10 PM
That thing is freakin gorgeous! My first recording device is long gone, I must have killed it when I was 3 or 4. I've heard playback from a couple webster machines and I'd love to find one locally sometime.

Even when I was a small child my Dad made sure I took great care of his stuff even if he had given to me. I still have his Garrard RC80 turntable with all the accessories, manual and even the box from the late 40's.


Dave

DaveInVA
09-19-2011, 01:13 PM
They also had a version using the same chassis with a built in phono and radio and it used the big take up spool for 78 records. The extra holes with the blanks is where the tone arm would go.
This particular machine was made right after WWII and they were trying to use up their stock of black military metal knobs leftover from the war electronics they made. Later versions had bakelite consumer type knobs.


Dave

stereorob
09-20-2011, 08:09 AM
WOW DUDE THAT DECK IS SICK!! i cant believe how well it is preserved! very very nice!! i still have my first receiver, (fisher 500b) that i got when i was 9. but thats it! my first recording device it in about 1000 peices someware deep in the orange county landfill and has been there since about 1991 haha

stereorob
09-20-2011, 08:11 AM
my fisher 500b is the only surviving piece from my first, original collection, wish i still had that stuff, it was almost all tube gear!

ke4mcl
09-20-2011, 07:33 PM
thats a really nice looking deck!

Class A Clown
09-21-2011, 08:53 PM
That thing is freakin gorgeous!

WOW DUDE THAT DECK IS SICK!! i cant believe how well it is preserved! very very nice!!

What more can you say? A beautiful, drool-inducing piece you have there! *bigthumbup*