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1961 Fisher Statesman

M

mcsteam22

New Member
Hello Folks,

This is my first post to Audiokarma, as I am now the proud owner of a 1961 Fisher Statesman and want to share my enthusiasm with those of us who appreciate these quality old Fisher consoles; their heritage, sound, build quality, and of course, the vintage smells of warm tube electronics at work.

TheRed1 has been a great inspiration to rally the interest in the old Fishers. I thank him and all the other members that contributed to the fact filled threads listing Fisher model history. It's good to be among friends with the same interest!

After almost giving up hope of finding an old Fisher console, this gem showed up on Craigslist within a driveable distance. Long story short, I bought it, brought it home and began to document the restoration process. Good things are worth the wait!

As I carefully dismantle and document the hardware, I will take more pictures and post these with the group.

The '61 Statesman has the 202-T tuner (with plug-in provision for the FM Multiplexer.....no Multiplexer though) coupled to the SA-100 amp. A Garrard Type A record changer with Shure M8D cartridge slides out from the front compartment. All the tubes are original Fisher tubes. Not sure of the amount of use. Things look pretty clean and cool. Everthing needs a good scrube and thorough dismantling and rebuilding.

Unfortunately, a Variac warm-up test won't be needed to evaluate the current performance. The seller's previous demonstration efforts resulted in a popped cap; not really a big surprise. A full restoration is planned anyway. Now, the adventure begins.

Thank you, again, TheRed1 for your commradery and information and all the Audiokarma members for creating a truly great organization.

On with the pictures.
 

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What a dream piece. I wish I could find one and actually had room for it if I did. That looks like a TA 600 in there. Congrats! We look forward to the photos.
 
That, my friend, is sweet.

Best of luck with the restore. A fun and rewarding project.

Snade
 
A pity Fisher would use only small-gauge wiring to connect the speakers. You've
got to yank this out and install some state-of-the-art 'monster' interconnects,
it will sound much better, as every 21st century audiophile knows!

Just kidding, good luck with the restoration. Great find, hope you enjoy it for many
years.
 
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It's going to sound amazing once it's restored. My sister-in-law has been pestering me to get on the ball and start the restoration of her 1960 Fisher Custom Electra III. It functions and sounds great for about 15 minutes before the noise level rises to objectionable levels. It's been taken out of service and she's made several solid state attempts at an interim replacement but hasn't been happy with the sound.

I don't know if I mentioned it, but at the exact time you were in the process of acquiring your Statesman my Uncle and Brother were in Bradenton cleaning out my Grandmother's house and packing and shipping her furniture and household furnishings. If you hadn't grabbed it I would have certainly made a play. But I'm really glad you finally got one after looking for such a long time. And it's a really nice one, too! Third from the top-of-the-line and originally priced at $1,145 ($200 more than my '60 Premiere).

Statesman1961.jpg
 
that's a beauty. absolutely beautiful. congrats on a great score. if i could find something like that i KNOW my wife would be eager to have it as our "entertainment center".

btw, what is in the double-doors below the tambour?
 
To all, Thanks for the great welcoming-committee response. It's good to be among kindred spirits.

Believe me, I appreciate this find. My search for a Fisher console became one of desperation where I would have grabbed any termite-infested, water-damaged tube amp model I could find. I believe luck was a big part of this find. I'm going to make every effort to restore this Statesman to museum quality. But, I do plan on using it a lot too!

Madwing, the double doors open up to allow access for the Garrard Type-A turntable to be accessed. The turntable slides forward with the doors open. This model has a magnetic cartridge, Shure M8D (just as TheRed1's vintage ad indicates). I haven't had the chance to check it yet. I'll have some resto questions about the turntable, as I get into that section. I'll post photos of the turntable this weekend.

This weekend I will also begin the careful disassembly and documentation of parts. I'll snap some good pics of the amp, receiver, turntable, roach egg casings and dust. This is will be some hard-core documentation of the "before" pics.

I'll take the back panels off from the "acoustically firewalled" speaker sections and take a look at what speakers are inside. We can already see the small-gage wire that electroking spotted. There must be some Avery Fisher rationale in the choice of wiring that justifies that; the man was brilliant. Maybe a wire upgrade is an improvement?

TheRed1 is right that this receiver is the dual tuning dial type. FM stereo must not have been a standard yet, so this required one of the stereo channels to ride on a parallel AM station. That's how I understand it. So, it should have some really clean AM! How does the FM quality sound in your '60 Premiere? I'd love to find one of the optional Fisher accessory FM multiplexers that plugs right in. But, one thing at a time.

Now I must free-up some shop bench space to place the extricated components. I'll post back soon with more pics and observations. Thanks again everyone.
 
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mcsteam22 said:
How does the FM quality sound in your '60 Premiere?
Click to expand...
Well, I live between two glide paths of a major airport and suffer from terrible multipath interference when listening to FM stereo. So I don't miss the multiplexer at all. In fact, the TA-600 in the Premiere is the only radio in the house w/o an outside antenna and it pulls them in strong and clear.

I bought a little Crane FM transmitter to hook up to the computer for Pandora, iTunes and internet radio. It works adequately - it's a little noisy in stereo through my Fisher 400 but sounds good in mono - especially on the Premiere. The signal quality coming out of the computer's headphone jack and transmitted on FM isn't exactly Hi-fi but it's acceptable for background music.

I can't comment on Fisher's AM capabilities, though. The AM antenna was the only thing damaged when I acquired the Premiere and I haven't bothered to look for a replacement. My house has aluminum siding and I figure I'll need an outside antenna anyway. But I just discovered an intriguing AM station a few weeks ago and I have been considering hooking one up. I'll keep you posted.

Here's the 1961 Statesman II from the Fisher catalog:

ST1.jpg

ST2.jpg
 
TheRed1,

Good points about the FM reception getting frayed by the multipath interference sources. If I had to choose between signal clarity and stereo reception, I'd take signal clarity always.

Also, Thanks for the pics of the two versions of the 1961 Statesman II. It's great to see the different styles that were offered for one model. I'd like to print hardcopies of all the vintage Fisher information that you've provided in these threads. Thanks again for your dedication to this topic.
 
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