Sharp
An individual hand-built steampunk lamp built from a genuine vintage working 55-year old Sharp radio (transistor), with upcycled/vintage/new parts including a E27 lamp, a radiator key and 3 illuminated thermionic radio valves (inactive) in new porcelain sockets. The bulb is illuminated when the recessed switch on the left-hand side, above the key, is activated.
The Sharp FMA-131 was built in Osaka in Japan, probably about 1968 by the Hayakawa Electric Co Ltd. It has 10 transistors with a 455Khz superheterodyne receiver. It works on AM and FM bands and has fantastic tone and 2 watt output. We have added a more contemporary FM Aerial. You can listen to Radio 3 and Radio 4, or even Radio One which we believe the hip kids are listening to these days. Groovy!
It is housed in a wooden cabinet which has become beautifully weathered over the years, including a thin crack on the top surface. We have maintained this finish only adding a little wax to the top surface.
The vintage thermionic valves are inactive and glow orange. The valves are illuminated when the rotary Power/Volume control is on.
The clockwork key is for decoration.
The burgundy vintage fabric flexible twisted double insulated 2 core 1.5 metre cable i is terminated with a black 13-amp plug, which complies with BS 1363, and is fitted with a 3 amp fuse. An additional spare fuse is included.