Mel and I acquired this little Telefunken Jubilate at a Second Sunday away back. The unit works fine and has that usual rich Telefunken sound. The only real problem was that the finish had started to flake off. I was unsure if I could duplicate the German finish (dark on edges light in the middle) so what I tried to do was preserve it from further deterioration. Sure, I could strip it down and redo the finish but I may not be able to make it look the same and one of the great things about these radios is the rich finish.
As you can see the finish had lots of cracks because of age and it was just starting to flake off in some places.
I decided to sand the whole cabinet down with really fine sandpaper (220 grit) to smooth out the finish.
Next I wiped it down really well and sprayed a few coats of Rust-Oleum polyurethane to seal it and protect it (I will redo it later if I can figure out how to duplicate the finish).
Now with a couple of coats it needs to dry overnight.
The only thing to do now is wax it and shine it up.
Now all I have to do now is find a place for it in our room. I really think it looks great considering all I did was a little preventive maintenance.
Shines like a jewel.
If you are lacking a cool radio in your home then try a Telefunken, I promise you will not be disappointed.
I know I usually refinish things to like new condition but sometimes you have to do what you can to prevent further damage and deterioration of the piece. I will research and see if anyone has a good approach on how to refinish the cabinets to like new condition but for now I am satisfied with the results.
Hi,
I was wondering if you have any idea if I can connect an iPod to a telefunken jubilate 8 and how to go about it.
Cheers
Alex
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I can’t recall if the jubilate has FM too. If it does, you can use an FM transmitter. If it doesn’t have FM you have to take it to your local radio guy and have them hardware a port so you can hook the iPod up. Hope this helps.
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oooh! We have one of them too, it was my dad’s – he bought it in Newfoundland when he was in the Navy in the early 1960s. It is now a treasured piece in the Hacienda! The only thing missing is the little clip underneath the pushbuttons, that keeps the gold trim on. So glad yours turned out so nice!
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Thanks Mod Betty! Yeah, that little gold piece always seems to go missing. They really do have great sound and that is a great heirloom you have.
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