Sonata in two parts

Part one: Strange guns






Apologies for the image quality, that's the 1.3mp camera with me using a piece of paper as a background in the back office of the store. That, from the best I can tell or find, is a Driesen or other Liege, Belgium manufacturer's offering in .30 Belgian BP centerfire. Quite neat. It's missing some important parts though, and it's doubtful it could ever be made safe to fire (much less finding an ancient heeled .30 caliber to fire in it). The shop has it "for parts", meaning it's liable to be a curiosity that sits around forever, particularly since it's not a firearm (pre-1900).

Part two: Strange compulsions

With the much appreciated assistance of Roberta X I've been tweaking and fiddling with the old radio and finding that this is an incredibly steep learning curve. So, I'm just going to sit back and remind myself what the plans of attack are:

Plan A: restore full function with new parts (current)
Plan B: restore AM function with vintage layout
Plan C: restore AM function with new layout, i.e. total rewiring
Plan D: restore preamp/amp function, use external audio source
Plan 9 from outer space: Convert dial to clock, hide head unit with amp in cabinet somewhere, shame myself and wear cirice and hairshirt for a couple decades for failing.

Now, before anyone freaks out about the big alphabet plans, I remind you that I do have two chassis for the one cabinet... if I screw up too badly with the first one there's a reprieve. The second chassis is in worse physical shape but seems to be a little less unfocused as to the wiring.

It's rapidly becoming clear that the physical restoration is the EASY part. At least I haven't electrocuted myself again. (that does imply that there was a once...)