Silvertone Model 7054

This is the first radio that I restored after the Admiral radio that my grandfather and I worked on that had belonged to my great-grandfather.  When I started getting into antique radios, I got a copy of Antique Radio Restoration Guide by David Johnson.  One of the radios pictured in this book was the Silvertone 7054, which is older than one may think.  It dates back to the 1940s.  Most websites list it as a 1947 model, but one site that I came across listed it as a 1942.  I found the simple lines of this set to be very attractive in the book, and set out the find one for myself.  I found one on the big auction site and bought it.  It needed new knobs, and the plastic shroud on the front had a crack in it, but it was working.  I was all set to start restoring it when I came across the one that I have pictured here.  It needed complete cabinet restoration as well, but it had all of its knobs and the shroud was perfect.  I bought it as well, and now I have two of them.  For this radio, I ordered new grille cloth from Antique Radio Grille Cloth, stripped the old finish off and got down to bare wood, and started rebuilding.  I repainted the black base, and applied a new finish to the wood.  To be honest, I can't remember what I used on the wood to make it the golden color.  I know that I used a spray polyurethane for the finish coat over the whole cabinet.  I restored this radio around 10 years ago.  It is still probably my favorite behind the Admiral tombstone.