I bought this 1920’s Pierce Airo a few years back and worked on the chassis then shelved it until I restored the tired cabinet. The cabinet lid turned out to be the lid from hell.

It was contaminated with something that caused the lacquer finish to have severe pock marks. The finish was stripped and redone several times with the same results each time so back to the shelf to sit for a while. I tried a sealer coat of shellac and later adding silicone oil to the lacquer in case silicone was the contaminant. No luck. Finally I laid several thick coats of the lacquer on, let them harden for six weeks, then wet sanded the lid with 400, 600 wet papers and an automotive polishing compound. Still a few defects but acceptable.

The front panel was quite interesting. A single Tuning knob, a Volume knob, a Clarity know and 1st and 2nd Compensator knobs either side of the tuning knob. (And some dust).

The chassis is a six tube chassis with a single three section tuning capacitor.

The compensators were interesting. They each lift one end of one section of the stationary tuning capacitor plates. The 1st Compensator lifts the left hand side of the plates in the center section of the capacitor. The lift appears to be about 3/8ths of an inch.

Compensator 2 does the same to the front section of the capacitor.

This is an interesting radio and a cousin to my Pierce Airo tombstone radio.

Ed.