Sparton Nocturne
With it's 42" Cobalt Blue mirror, the Nocturne has had very little said about the radio hidden behind the mirror. I've heard several radio collectors say that they wouldn't want a Nocturne. Yes they would. This is not just a pretty face with no substance. Behind the beautiful, timeless design stands a 12-tuber (Actually, 11 tubes in the chassis and 1 Visi-Glo tuning eye tube) capable of standing with or above all but a very few consoles. The chassis is impressive but when I received it, the performance was poor. It had been supposedly rebuilt shortly before I obtained the radio but obviously my standards for a rebuild are higher than theirs. Not all of the paper caps had been replaced. The power cord was not old but not polarized and the tuning condenser mounting grommets were gone, allowing the condenser to flop around when the set was being tuned. I replaced the paper caps as well as a couple of others that were not the correct value, replaced the power cord with a new polarized cord and replaced the grommets and secured the mounting for the tuning condenser. Then I gave the chassis a good cleaning. There was very little corrosion, mostly just dust. After completing the alignment, the set showed the sensitivity and performance I had expected.
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