An elderly woman put an old cupboard up for sale last december, the story goes like this:
She had it for years and with its suitable height it saw use as the platform for the family telly.
It was empty inside and she thought long and hard about what to put in there. It would be a
shame not to use the considerable amount of storage space it could provide but, knowing that access to
the cupboard contents would be a bit difficult, she decided that the garden chair cushions and carpets
would be about the only perfect things to fit in there since they wouldn't require access more than twice a year.
You see, the problem with this cupboard was that it opened at the top rather than the front so the
big television set had to be lifted off to open the lid and she was not able to do that on her own.
It was a nice looking piece of furniture and it was taken great care of for many years but the day came
when a new flatscreen TV entered the building. With the new purchase fixed directly onto the wall, the
cupboard was now only in the way.
That is, up until now it had served two functions, a primary and a secondary, but from now on it would
only do one, that being the secondary, and that wasn't quite enough to justify its presence so therefore
the garden accessories found other means of winter storage and the cupboard was put up for sale.

I bought it.

The nice old lady asked me what on earth made a person make a roundtrip of apprx 800 Km plus
an expensive bridge in minus 15 degrees C, on extremely icy roads and with high winds to pick up this old thing ?
I told her that the sole reason I did this, was that I have been collecting old radios for more than 35 years.
Not quite understanding the connection, she asked me again: "But why this cupboard, then ?".
I turned it around and pointed at the backside: "You see, it says Bang & Olufsen on the back, it's
an old radiogram cabinet!".
- "Ah..", she said, "- so the heart-shaped cutout with the cloth at the front is where the music would come out?".
- "Exactly!"
She had wondered about that for years and never quite figured it out but she liked the look of it nevertheless.
- "But it's empty", she said, almost excusing herself.
- "Yes, I know", I replied, " - you stated that in the ad, but I hope to fill it up again with what was originally in there".
She wished me the best of luck, surely shaking her head in disbelief as I disappeared around the
first corner, most likely assuming I must be nuts.
Little did she know just how correct her assumption was.

And this is how the story about this Master 38RG project begins. Where it (if it ever) ends, noone knows.

Martin

I may have bought a dead horse.
That is, it really IS a nice cupboard but, honestly, there's not a big hope for this beauty to ever become whole again.
Well, I suppose I may be able to fit something in there and I can probably make it play some sounds but
I would never expect it to be all original again.
Not a huge amount were produced, maybe less than a hundred, so finding correct parts to
complete it will surely prove very difficult, if not downright impossible.
I will update this thread whenever (if ever) any progress is made with this project.

Martin

Dead horse or not, the only one I know who would do 800 Km on icy roads to by a storage cabinet is ---- MARTIN. Martin you surprice me time and time again.

Anyway it looks nice, and will be a nice mueble "at stille fra sig på" (to put things on) just like a grand piano if you cant play it.

well done on the rescue mission !!!

let us hope the restoration mission can take place at some point in the future

until then you have something gorgeous to look

I love it! In the meantime, it would make a great stealth subwoofer cabinet

Was the original radio part of the chassis the same as the other Master 38 models?

(which reminds me, I should take a couple of pics of my Master 38K for the product pages, the one from the Thorgesen collection is poor quality and seems to have an incorrect speaker cloth)

Great story , I am always amazed at how beoworlders spot these deals. Good luck with the missing radio.

Dillen:

The nice old lady asked me what on earth made a person make a roundtrip of apprx 800 Km plus
an expensive bridge in minus 15 degrees C, on extremely icy roads and with high winds to pick up this old thing ?

Just so you understand the effort that went into this. In the winter in Denmark the icy roads are dangerous, there are stretches totally clean and good to drive on,  but nearly always wet. At minus 15 degrees C the salt and chemicals they use stops working, and you get "Black ice", you cant see it, but you will surely feel it, its like driving on an icehockey rink. I suppose Martin used some 16 driving houers for the 800 KM round trip, and as you only have some 6-7 hours daylight in Denmark in the winter, most of it in the dark.

Dillen:

She wished me the best of luck, surely shaking her head in disbelief as I disappeared around the
first corner, most likely assuming I must be nuts.

Will keep my eye on this, maybe I'm lucky to find another one and it will be yours Martin! 

Wow, this radiogram cabinet looks beautiful!

I know a bit about old valve radios (I have several, but alas no B&O, as rare as hens' teeth here), and this one must have sounded awesome... it used CY1 (rectifier), CF1, CF3 and CBL1 (output, 4W max) valves. 

Good luck on your new quest then!

Søren Mexico:

Dead horse or not, the only one I know who would do 800 Km on icy roads to by a storage cabinet is ---- MARTIN. Martin you surprice me time and time again.

Says the man who FREQUENTLY drives several hundred miles between Texas and Mexico City to feed his Beovirus........

Of course, I've also made the several hundred mile round trip, to JaffBay....

Really quite beautiful, Martin.  Good luck on your project!

A beautiful story - and even if it doesn't get restored you've certainly saved a piece of B&O history which gets my thumbs up.

Lee

Thanks guys, really nice to know that I have your support.
I will need it. 

Not a lot of Master 38RGs were produced and even fewer are known to exist.
Actually, I only know of one complete set.
I know who owns it and I have contacted him for information etc. It would be a huge help to me if I could find out
how things once were inside my cabinet.
However, the owner doesn't seem too fond of communication, I never had a reply from him so I suppose
I am left pretty much on my own and I will have to make do with what little info and photos, I can find on the net
and elsewhere.
Yes Mika, I think the radio chassis is basically the same as sees use in the tabletop model Master 38K, the
original service manual covers both models but gives no info on the fitting etc.
Finding a Master 38 chassis shouldn't be too difficult but even with a good one at hand there will
be lots of details unknown and questions unanswered.

Under the large lid on top, it should look like this (borrowed photo):

Mine looks like this...

Clearly, I am missing quite a few essentials...

Martin

Dillen:

Clearly, I am missing quite a few essentials...

To take on a project like this, you clearly are That's why we like you.

Can't wait to see how it progresses

Martin, i'm sure you did this already but just in case (sometimes the obvious is not thought about..): doesn't the previous owner know anything about the history, and who took the "heart" out ? :).

It may well still be in an old barn or attick, that generation (in those days of war and starvation) wasn't keen on throwing things away..

You're right, Paul. And I did ask, but the owner knew nothing about it, she and her late husband
got the cabinet as-is many decades ago.

Last night in the dungeons, I found a speaker.
This is a Perma Kino I from a Master 38K. If the radiogram version used the same speaker, it
will be useful for the project.
If I look closely, maybe I can spot holes or other traces from the fitting of the original speaker.
I could have wished for a better condition but repairs can be done to it if I can't find a better one.

Martin

What is the diameter and pull of this speaker ?

The outer diameter is apprx. 24,5 cm so it's close to being a 10 inch driver.

I visited a very good friend and fellow B&O collector today and picked up this little, sad looking thing.

Being a Master 38K, it has a chassis, a nice dial and glass, power plug and a couple of knobs suitable for my project.
That is, I assume the chassis used in the radiogram and tabletop models were identical.
The speaker could easily turn out to be in better condition than the one, I found the other day but I'm
still not convinced that it is the correct one for the radiogram model. I will have to find out.
Not easy to see in the photos, but the cabinet of this Master 38K is completely warped, most of the veneer has gone and
everything is practically held together with scotch tape. In other words; A good parts donor potential for the project.

Martin

Another great find ! This project is off to a good start.

Hi Martin,

I'm surprised about the condition of the cabinet.

It looks great.

Here is what I found regarding the speaker.

According to the service documentation the Master 38 and Master 38 RG used a Perma Kino I, like the one on the picture.

The Master de Luxe 38 used a Perma kino II (Gigant) and the Master de Luxe 38 RG used a Perma kino II (Gigant) and 2 Perma Junior speakers.

Rudy

Thanks Rudy, greatly appreciated !

Martin

If you were me, having the above project and given the opportunity to pick up this thing (below),
- Would you do it ?
- And in the given case, why ?

Martin

Hi Martin,

I saw this cabinet, advertised as B&O radio, about  2 months ago on a Danish site, if I remember well.

The interesting parts for me....  the knobs.

Why didn't I buy it?

It was the size of the cabinet that made me decide not to buy it.

Rudy

Knobs yes, but look closer and you will see what made this "second cupboard" the find of the year for me.

Martin

The black front is the original one for the Master 38RG? So it is the origial chassis of a 38RG?