Upon further inspection, I noticed a crack in the bottom of the tube. I had no replacement tubes in storage, so I ordered a new RCA tube on eBay. While I waited for the tube, I replaced the resistor and, in the process, broke the pin lug off the socket.
After much pain and profanity, I managed to melt the original pin back into the socket with one of those old-fangled plastic melters. It looks pretty bad, but no one is going to see it anyway. While I was working on the socket, I replaced the anode connection since the original one dried out to the point that it literally crumbled in my hands. I also lathered all of the exposed connections with “Coronadope,” which is my favorite high voltage transformer lacquer. I just learned that it was discontinued because of its high VOC content and toxic solvents, primarily toluene and xylene. I never really noticed it. Aromatherapy for the central nervous system!
I don’t waste my time replacing every vintage capacitor in the set (unless it’s a Predicta). After letting the lacquer cure, I replaced the 3BL2 tube and plugged the set in on a dim bulb. It worked. Here are some photos and videos. br>
