my first damaged ebay buy :(

[Nolan Woodbury]

On the bright side, with all the separation caused by the shite packing job, it’ll be a cinch to clean those 'hard to reach' corners around the dial.

On the subject of clamping, I'd be very careful. In fact, with the fast set-up of today’s modern wood glues, holding parts with your hands (for a minute or two) is usually good enough. If you must clamp something as small and fragile as a radio cabinet -especially I might add, if the corners are held together with a tongue and groove slot- the smaller 'rod' clamps (they look like all-thread w/small plastic clamps) work well and are gentle. A bit of rubber or a wider piece of wood between the cabinet and clamp is a good idea too. I'm still learning the basics of vacuum tube technology, but woodworking is an old skill...one that seems to come in handy with the nutballs (ahem) 'packing' vintage electronics.

Like someone said, it's a shame that something as old and beautiful as your S-W set can survive all these years, only to be damaged by some moron in too much of a rush (to watch their favorite 'reality' TV show?) to stop and consider what they are handling. That's why I like the concept of this page. Future generations will thank us!

Good luck with the set Donny. I'm sure you'll have it 'up and runnin' in no time.

[Markus111]

You should definitely contact the seller and try to work it out. It's the only way he will know what he's doing wrong. Some people are idiots, but others just really don't know any better. My worst purchase was an Antique Sound Lab tube amp. The guy packed it in on a newspaper. When I say "packed it on a newspaper", I mean that he put a folded newspaper (as it is delivered to your doorstep) in the bottom of the box. He then put the amp in, and put another folded newspaper on the top! Needless to say, the amp was destroyed.

Mark