Pye PCR2

[Yorkie]

I've never quite understood why some restorers stuff caps. During its working life with its first owner, if a radio failed, they would no doubt take it to a repair shop who would replace failed components such as caps or resistors with whatever the current replacements were, which would be unlikely to be the same as the originals. Such repairs would be a part of the 'provenance' of the radio. Electrical things conk out from time to time and need to be repaired. If we restore a radio, we are, in effect, extending it's working life, and provided that repair is completed competently and safely with modern components we're are only adopting the same practices as would the 'Smith and Dicky' repair shops of yesteryear. If an radio owner had said to 'Smith and Dicky' "I'd like you to preserve the originality of the caps be re-stuffing them" they'd have been laughed off the face of the planet.

Apart from that, whoever is going to remove a chassis and say 'oh dear, what a pity the caps weren't stuffed'. I can understand it to an extent with smoothing caps which are mounted above the chassis, but half a dozen paper caps in a DAC90A? Hello? I do though understand why people replace old 1/2 Watt resistors with 2 & 3 Watt metal or carbon film resistors as modern 1/2 Watt ones look so puny and out of place.

Just my point of view - not trying to start an argument - I don't expect others to concur and I certainly wouldn't presume to lecture anyone on what they should do with their own property. But 'Preserving originality' especially of unseen components, does not enhance the value of a radio, and indeed, paradoxically, upgrading radios by rectifying safety deficiencies in the original design to comply with current regulations, (thus destroying its originality) enables professional restorers to to command much higher prices than they otherwise would do. In this regard, two professional restorers who regularly sell DAC90As on E-bay for well over £200 a pop, (a recent one went for £265.00), describe the work done on the radio, which includes such things as removing the reversible two-pin plug and hard wiring a new mains flex directly to the mains switch, earthing the metal speaker grille, and in one case, fitting a small 6.3 Volt mains transformer and easily obtainable 6.3V dial bulbs. And not a stuffed cap in sight.