GD70 Posted October 21, 2016 Report Share Posted October 21, 2016 A couple weeks ago, I had to pick up my son at the train station. I was a half hour early so I stopped to get some T.P., In the same small shopping center is a GW. I maybe stop there 4-5 times a year, always nothing or crap. The donations area door was open and when I looked in, sitting on the floor against the wall were the backs of a set of AR's! Wasn't sure yet if they were 3 or 3a's. Yup 3's! 50 bucks and they were in my back seat and trunk! Also they are sequential! The cabs are in overall very nice shape, but will need some minor veneer repairs and refinishing. One original grill was crudely spray painted black including the badge & 3 pin, the other grill is MIA. The metal screens over both mids were removed. ;-( My guess was to boost the output. Got them home and as I expected, no sound from the mids & tweeters, rotating the pots did nothing. I have a bunch of pots I cleaned up in good condition to swap out, hoping this is why there's no output. I'll also put in new caps. I'll probably send the mids to Roy for rebuilding once I confirm they are producing sound. I hope he has some spare covers for the mids in his parts stash! Here's some pics. Glenn [ URL=http://s133.photobucket.com/user/GD70/media/AR3%20GW/IMG_1678_zps3ap104dn.jpg.html][/URL] Someone spray painted something on these, note the over spary! Tweeters domes are not lifting! Lots of corrosion in the pots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owlsplace Posted October 21, 2016 Report Share Posted October 21, 2016 Nice catch ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alverman Posted October 28, 2016 Report Share Posted October 28, 2016 Great find! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonnar Posted October 31, 2016 Report Share Posted October 31, 2016 You 're a lucky man! For 50 $ and an accurate works to restore it, You 'll have one of the best sounding speakers ever made. Congratulations ! Adriano Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidDru Posted October 31, 2016 Report Share Posted October 31, 2016 Ah yes, seeing the familiar rear labels from across the room and your heart starts racing, wondering what model AR it is and hoping it has a 3 in it. Like Christmas morning as a kid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonnar Posted October 31, 2016 Report Share Posted October 31, 2016 4 hours ago, DavidDru said: Ah yes, seeing the familiar rear labels from across the room and your heart starts racing, wondering what model AR it is and hoping it has a 3 in it. Like Christmas morning as a kid. Your words reminds me my Christmas of 50 years ago , 1966 , that Christmas morning I received a G.I. Joe ( by Hasbro ) with a complete U.S. Marine set, uniform, Machine gun, haversack, camouflage set, Jeep, tent, and I started to play with it while my father was listening his AR 3 , I remember Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby singin' together , still I have that LP. Sorry for the little O.T. . Adriano Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD70 Posted November 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2016 On October 31, 2016 at 9:55 AM, Sonnar said: You 're a lucky man! For 50 $ and an accurate works to restore it, You 'll have one of the best sounding speakers ever made. Congratulations ! Adriano Lucky timing! This is my 2nd pair of 3's. My first I found at my local SA for 19.99. They needed more work on the cabs than these will need. I have the caps and hope to swap them in the next few days, as well as pots that are in great shape to replace the corroded ones. I'm praying the mids and tweeters are good. Next if the mids are good, I'll send them to Roy for refurbishing and hopefully he'll have the wire mesh that's missing. Then I'll sand the cabs to the veneer, do the repairs and refinish. One step at a time. Im really excited to hear them! Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD70 Posted November 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2016 On October 31, 2016 at 4:12 PM, Sonnar said: Your words reminds me my Christmas of 50 years ago , 1966 , that Christmas morning I received a G.I. Joe ( by Hasbro ) with a complete U.S. Marine set, uniform, Machine gun, haversack, camouflage set, Jeep, tent, and I started to play with it while my father was listening his AR 3 , I remember Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby singin' together , still I have that LP. Sorry for the little O.T. . Adriano Wow! That brings back fond memories! My GI Joe had blond yellow painted hair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD70 Posted November 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2016 On October 31, 2016 at 11:19 AM, DavidDru said: Ah yes, seeing the familiar rear labels from across the room and your heart starts racing, wondering what model AR it is and hoping it has a 3 in it. Like Christmas morning as a kid. Hey David! That was exactly what I thought! I practically sat on them until the manager came out to give me a price. Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD70 Posted November 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2016 Making some progress. Finished the recap, replaced the pots with nice cleaned ones I had ready to go. Roy gave me advice on repairing the mids for better output, and my first attempt went unsuccessful, so I pulled them she shipped them off to Roy for his magic touch. I soaked the pots in clear vinegar & salt solution, washed and rinsed with soap & water and they were in much better shape than I expected. I'll take the fine sanding wheel on the Dremel and polish up the disks and see how they test. I got one cab sanded and ready for some minor veneer repairs. I also checked the woofer masonite rings and they were glued solid, good news there. Here's some pics. Glenn The mid I attempted to repair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owlsplace Posted November 14, 2016 Report Share Posted November 14, 2016 A Cinderella story ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidR Posted November 14, 2016 Report Share Posted November 14, 2016 Thinking I'll start stopping for TP and tampons ....................... just sayin' Very nice work BTW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ar_pro Posted November 14, 2016 Report Share Posted November 14, 2016 They're coming along nicely - great photos! Please include any of the veneer work that you decide to do - I could look at before & after pictures all day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD70 Posted November 14, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2016 1 hour ago, ar_pro said: They're coming along nicely - great photos! Please include any of the veneer work that you decide to do - I could look at before & after pictures all day. You bet and thank you! I've restored a number of speakers and pretty much have it down to a routine with this type of veneer work. Lots of fun! Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xmas111 Posted November 14, 2016 Report Share Posted November 14, 2016 Glen, Looking real good! I too will be interested in the end result with lots of pics as you go. I'm sure they will come out awesome looking....and sounding! Your work is always top notch! John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VintageMan Posted November 15, 2016 Report Share Posted November 15, 2016 Wauw, nice work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidDru Posted November 15, 2016 Report Share Posted November 15, 2016 Looking good. Edges and corners look pretty good overall actually. Bottoms a bit rougher as usual. Your wiring diagram looks like mine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stupidhead Posted November 15, 2016 Report Share Posted November 15, 2016 looking great Glenn, any ideas on getting the grilles back to oem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ra.ra Posted November 15, 2016 Report Share Posted November 15, 2016 Hey Glenn, you got another great find there. Gorgeous speakers and great pics. Can I suggest maybe providing some temporary protection on those tweeters while you work on the cabinets? Looking forward to watching your progress. Carry on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD70 Posted November 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2016 4 hours ago, stupidhead said: looking great Glenn, any ideas on getting the grilles back to oem? Hey Geoff! I hope to. If I remember, doesn't Ken have some matching grill saran? It's been a few years since the first 3 restoration project. I would need to make new frames though. The one original plastic frame is in pretty good shape with one crack at the top, easily repairable, but finding another original would be difficult. I'll also need a pair of 3 pins. I have another AR badge I can use. Cheers! Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD70 Posted November 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2016 5 hours ago, DavidDru said: Looking good. Edges and corners look pretty good overall actually. Bottoms a bit rougher as usual. Your wiring diagram looks like mine! Thanks David! These are in very good overall shape, just some minor rear corner repairs needed. Roy sent me that diagram back when I did my first 3 resto project. Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD70 Posted November 15, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2016 3 hours ago, ra.ra said: Hey Glenn, you got another great find there. Gorgeous speakers and great pics. Can I suggest maybe providing some temporary protection on those tweeters while you work on the cabinets? Looking forward to watching your progress. Carry on. Hi Robert! Yup, a total fluke I even stopped at this GW. I couldn't believe they were sitting there. Must have been dropped off that day as they didn't have a price tag on them, and there were some other speakers as well that I didn't even bother looking at when I spotted the 3's! Probably all donated by the same person. There were a few receivers and some other gear I wasn't interested in. Yes, I'll cover the tweeters, thanks! Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GD70 Posted November 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2016 Made some progress this weekend, and received my repaired mids from Roy! I got the 2nd cab sanded and started veneer repairs on both. I'm almost done, one or two corners still to do. The veneer on the 3's is pretty thick and the veneer from other speaker projects is thinner, so i have to add another layer of newer veneer I have so it will be level with the speaker surface. Here's some pics to give you an idea of the process. Straight cuts are always easier to patch than a curved cut. I also sand the edges slightly angled so the surface edges butt well when being glued in place. The mids from Roy. The domes are nice and free now to move as they should. Roy also put in new VC leads. Sanded cab and some of the repairs. Cut away the damaged area, made a paper template to cut the veneer patch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidDru Posted November 21, 2016 Report Share Posted November 21, 2016 Glenns going to make us a video of his work in action. Someone have an extra video camera he can use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidR Posted November 21, 2016 Report Share Posted November 21, 2016 GD70, You are a magician with veneer repairs. Unbelievable if I hadn't seen before and after pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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