I would. If I had a '32 Ford, it would have the original 8 cylinder
flathead. The "deuce" was one of the most popular cars to be hot-rodded.
Maybe some
people do it because the original parts are not available at the time, or the
car is too far for restoration. Some people do it because they "know better"
than the engineers. In the end, it came down to horsepower and prestige.
A Henry amp with homemade rectifiers will bring no prestige. And today, like
the Deuce, is worth a lot less than a "factory equipped" model.
Mods and value are in the eye of the beholder.
Merry Christmas too.
-J
"That would be like putting a Chevy 350 into a '65 Mustang (or a Ford 390
into a '70 Chevelle 354). It will work, perhaps look OK, but still a
'butcher'
job."
Amateurs, by their very nature, are resourceful. Indeed, one of the
justifications for amateur radio is that during an emergency they can make
things work.
When a part breaks in my amp, transmitter, receiver, engine or aircraft, I
do not hesitate to fabricate my own replacement. The fact is that if a
factory part breaks, it may be inadequate for the purpose intended. So, the
goal then becomes to make a replacement better than the original. If I
could not do that, frankly, I would lose interest in amateur radio.
I restore old radios, and some parts are simply not available. Sometimes I
need to make duplicate knobs. When I get done, nobody will know which one
is the original and which one is the clone. Duplicating a rectifier block
is trivial. It would look just like the original.
In some cases, where the part is ugly or does not work very well, putting in
a factory replacement part might be a butcher job, while putting in an
improved part would be that - an improvement. In some cases, where the
performance is the justification for it's existence, the looks may not be
critical. It needs to be reliable.
My brother put a supercharged Chevy engine in a 32 Ford and it won a lot of
car shows. I would not call it a butcher job.
Merry Christmas Colin K7FM
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