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A&R A60 and T21 questions

P

Puggie

pfm Member
So I'm refurbing this stack:




The A60 has a 'gold' or beige finish to the front lettering. It is very consistent and doesn't clean up with soap, IPA, baby-wipes. Which leads me to think it may not be discolouring. Anyone have any ideas? I did read somewhere on the internet about the A60 'plus' having gold text on the face plate, but only the one instance of this.

The T21s have different fronts, not opened them up yet, the black case one works and sounds nice, the teak case I've not powered up yet. Again slightly different text, the teak case looks more like the A60, the black case fixes through the chassis base not screws through the sides and the black case has 75Ohm antenna only, the teak case has 75Ohm and 300Ohm sockets. I prefer the look of the recessed display on the black case one.

Anyone have any more info about the differences and history?
 
I'd say the top one has been printed in the gold tone from new; it's too even to be discolouration...

perhaps someone swapped the lids on the black tuner?
 
The A60 is dated 7/5/86
Black case T21 12/6/81
Teak cased T21 9/3/84

The T21s have different board revisions if anyone is interested in pics. The later two have matching Linkway wooden sleeves, the early one fixes through the base.
 
Del: I have many A60 - but here in Toronto ! All recapped etc and restored cases :) Next time I visit Uk I could bring one over !
https://flic.kr/p/dyPr5v

Puggie - interesting paint transfer colour on the A60. I have not seen that much browny gold before - hence I thought it might have been from a smokers home.
I have some spares for the T21.
Good luck.
 
Definitely seen that yellow lettering before. Probably when browsing eBay but not impossible one passed though my hands as I’ve had many.
 
I think the yellowish lettering on the matt plastic fascia was the final design. I have a late A60 with the same, which I recall new NZ shop stock having in the late 80’s. All had black cases. By then the A60 was looking very dated & I don’t feel the new fascia helped: it came across as mutton dressed as lamb. One shop still had a new sample on the shelf in the mid 90s!

Personally, I greatly prefer the teak case with enamel fascia & white screenprinted lettering. It is an elegant & classic design. I only bought the late example for its low price. (It sounds really bad for some reason - not up to spec at all despite having nice looking components inside.)
 
I'm not sure when the A60 finished production, but mid '86 must have been near the end.

Well this is the plan. Dark zebrano veneer (alledgedly). And either oil finish or a satin lacquer I think.



I suspect a shiny gloss finish might be a bit much.
 
Still needs final sanding and some sort of finish on it. Was planning on Osmo Oil but apparently this can cause the veneer to lift off the glue, they do a specific 'door oil' for veneer. Or I might have some 2k clear in the garage from doing body work on the car, not sure I want glossy though.



Glossy or satin what do people think?
 
So I ignored my own research and went with the Osmo Oil ( mainly because it was on the shelf in the garage and i'm impatient). If it lifts I will cut another sleeve from fresh ply and get a tin of the proper Osmo Door-Oil which is designed for thin veneers.

Over all I'm rathe pleased, the grain matching could have been better, but I might have to do the tuner now, so I can do better on the one and the better case goes on top!



I think it looks a bit darker in person, and it's somewhere between a satin/matt finish.

What are peoples thoughts?
 
I like that in your picture at least the lighter parts of the grain matches the yellowy lettering. I've always seen that as a tough brief to satisfy. You've made a lovely neat job, too. :)
 
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