My restored Fisher 800-C, Prix and Me

You can buy it direct from the distributor in SoCal. Look it up online and you'll find it. Heck, I should start stocking this stuff. Use caution, though....it takes off lettering. I would never use it on a faceplate, but it's the best metal polish I've ever used.

 

I don't need it on my front faceplate. Its totally Mint!!!!!!!!!

 

So, do we get a picture or what??

 

I don't have a digital camera, so I'll have to have them transgerred to disc when I finish this roll I'm on.

 

These pictures are breathtaking. That's some impressive work!

 

Yea! It was a three-step process: wipe away as much top-layer dust and dirt with a warm water/ammonia mix; elbow greasing time with the Simmichrome; and finally rub away the resulting blackish grunge and polish up! Whew!

The polish did NOT remove any of the lettering at all. I was frankly shocked at how resilient the lettering is on this unit. No matter how hard I rubbed it stayed intact!

As requested, some closeups.

 

"Death Star" shot :

 

Outputs. I didn't bother polishing the plug panel as no one excpet me will ever see it (and it would be a bitch to clean up):

 

Not-so-good shot of the faceplate. The 2 replacement knob covers look great and the old ones polished up purty. An ammonia wash did nothing to the lettering!

 

Make sure you give your precious tube gear a careful weekly dusting to keep it glistening like new! Every Sunday I dust my stuff, it even sounds better after a good dusting..... it does!

 

An especially good idea as my Fisher will be naked...the Russian output tubes won't fit inside the original wood case. I'm looking forward to seeing this light up at night!

 

Patrick, you did an absolutely BEAUTIFUL job on this. You've got some kind of stamina, bro. I would never have what it takes to finish a project like that. You are very lucky that you didn't remove any lettering. That polish WILL take it off. I destroyed some lettering with it once. I was polishing in dim light and wasn't paying attention. I was in a hurry. Also, you are lucky you have the later generation faceplate because on the ones like I've got on my Fisher X-202-B, water will take the lettering and gold color right off. You are in good shape leaving the unit out of the cabinet. I would recommend that even if the amp would fit because the cooler you keep your tubes, the longer they'll last. Are you sure that during the polishing process you didn't hit any of those bias or ac balance knobs out of position? Also, did you make sure to put each tube back exactly in the socket where it was without mixing or matching the power or preamp tubes? If so, you're in good shape. If not, you'll need to re-bias. My final recommendation is that you get yourself some Caig DeOxit for your RCA jacks and clean them about once a month.

 

Thanks for the kudos. Yes, a lot of work (and my fingers are still sore and peeling from all the chemicals!). I indeed left the bias settings alone and labelled each tube for position when I removed them.

Those RCA are plenty oxidized. I'll look for the Caig product this weekend. Now back to the headphones!

 

Well the journey has ended...the Fisher is now in my office component rack. I removed the top of the original cabinet, cut away the rear 60% or so of it to keep the innards exposed, and re-varnished all the wood. The top part is obviously removable now; at night I take it off, place the black metal mesh piece that was part of the original cabinet on top of the Fisher and it casts an extremely retro dotted-white-light pattern all across my ceiling. Sit in the sweet spot between my Tannoys (now also refinished and on 6" angled stands on either side of my desk), put on the remaster of SURREALISTIC PILLOW and I'm back in 1967...substituting a Diet Coke and a cigar for traditional hallucinogens, mind you!

From top to bottom:
Beck SEA CHANGE SACD
Fisher 800-C (to Tannoy speakers)
Pioneer 563-A (L/R 5.1 outs to Fisher; 2CH outs to Yamaha amp)
Yamaha V592 receiver (CD/Mac G4 audio output to Mirage bookshelfs on office desk)
Sony XA1-ES CD player for programming CDR tracks
Kenwood KD-5111 turntable (to Fisher; now if I only had some vinyl)

 

Awesome! Did my uncle's people end up doing the cabinets for you down there or did you do them yourself?

 

Did em myself...Dawn's quite a wiz at wood work....they still need new veneer, to be truthful...but I don't want to afford that right now and anyway I couldn't let them out of the house now with a gun to my head!!

 

I don't think you should bother with the veneer. Just glue down any loose pieces and go with them. The value of those speakers doesn't warrant putting big $$ into the cabinets, IMO. Do you have any photos of the whole room layout with the speakers?

 

Well some inch-square pieces of veneer are missing but given how they're positioned in the room you'd never know.

And now, because YOU ASKED FOR IT (and at this point you might be the only one who cares ;-): my office/listening room (comfy chair/components first, followed by Tannoys and my Mac rig...note fancy IKEA glass desk).

I suppose this also opens up another episode of "Name That Trinket." Knock yourselves out!

PS: Don't panic, purists...the sub is for the Mirages on top of the desk!