Restoration of a Nordmende Exquisit 59

This web page documents the restoration of a Nordmende Exquisit 59 console I obtained in November 2006.

Radio Description

Model: Nordmende Exquisit 59 (1959 model year)
Tube lineup: TBD
Bands Covered: TBD
Front panel controls: TBD
Rear panel jacks:
Antennas: internal AM and FM with connectors for external antennas
Speakers: 4
Dimensions: TBD
Weight: approx. 100kg/220lbs
Special features: magic eye, direction finder, turntable, table deck

In November 2006 I was contacted by e-mail by a couple in New York City who had inherited a Nordmende console and were looking for some advice on its value and how to sell it. I advised them they could try ebay but the market for consoles was not very big due to their large size and the prohibitive cost of shipping.

It turned out my Father in Law had once a console like this one, and he was interested in it, if we could get it for a a reasonable shipping cost. Unfortunately, we had few options for shipping - it was too large for US Postal Service and shipping by Greyhound bus was not an option as they do not ship internationally. Packing and shipping by a courier service looked like it was going to cost $500 to $1,000. So we started thinking about making a trip to New York City to pick it up. It is about an 8 hour drive from Ottawa. After we confirmed that it would fit in our car, my wife and I decided to take long weekend and drive to New York, do some sightseeing, and bring the radio back.

Here is a detailed account of our trip from Ottawa to New York City to pick up the radio.

About the Unit

The large console includes a Nordmende radio (which was also sold as a standalone unit, like this one) which has long wave, AM, FM (mono) and a single shortwave band. There is a multi-speed Dual turntable, and most unusual, a reel-to-reel tape deck in the lower drawer. There are 4 speakers. The unit is stereo in the sense that it has two audio channels and can play stereo records, but not stereo FM. The right hand side would have originally contained a television set, but this was no longer present.

Trivia

According to radiomuseum.org, the cost of this unit in 1959 was DM 2248. If we assume the Canadian dollar at par with DM (that was the case in the 2000s when the DM was replaced by the Euro), an on-line inflation calculator says: What cost $2248 in 1959 would cost $14,358.98 in 2005.

Inside the cabinet was a business card for a German radio repair company in Manhattan.

It is a mystery what happened to the attached TV. If it was a German model it would not have been compatible with the US television system. There were rabbit ears inside indicating use at some time.

A handwritten label on the back of the cabinet says "U.S.A.".

The turntable was made by Dual, still a well known brand for turntables.

My belief is that the unit was a German model and was modified to work in the USA. This consisted of changing the voltage jumper on the rear panels of the radio and amplifier and replacing the turntable motor with a 60 Hertz unit rather than 50 Hertz used in Germany. Possibly this was done by the German Radio Repair company whose card was inside the unit. It was very common for US serviceman stationed in Germany in the 1950s to bring German radios back to the United States with them, that is another possibility for how it made its way to New York.

Restoration

The radio, amplifier unit, turntable, and tape deck were removed from the cabinet after carefully documenting all of the wires and cables and taking many pictures with a digital camera. Everything was given a good cleaning. The radio chassis was gone over, cleaned, and voltages compared to the schematic diagram I obtained. Two dial cords were broken and replaced. Switch contacts were cleaned. No electronic parts needed to be replaced.

The cabinet was cleaned and waxed. Some loose trim was glued back in place.

The radio is now fully functional. It has excellent sound, even on AM. The turnable and tape deck still need to be restored.

Pictures

See this page.