EH Scott. History of Brand.

Earnest Humphrey Scott emigrated from New Zealand to America in the early 1920’s and started a business venture to manufacture only the highest quality radios.

By the mid 1930s, he was offering custom-built radios that were far superior to anything else available at that time. These would have a number of optional extras, such as tweeters, automatic record changers and so on. To give some idea, a Scott “Quaranta” receiver could be purchased for $2500 in 1936. These radios had 40 valves. None of them are known to exist today.

EH Scott radios were marketed as “The Stradivarius of Radios” and if you are lucky enough to come across one, you will understand why. Not only is the sound quality superb, but the construction is also immaculate. The chassis and valve screening cans are all chromium plated, so the inside looks absolutely beautiful. Exactly how the chrome was deposited on aluminium screening cans is a mystery to me.

Scott radios were offered as a chassis with a separate cabinet. Thus you might see a Scott Phantom de Luxe with a “Braemar” cabinet.

Sadly, during my wanderings around the antique shops of Randburg, I spotted a Scott receiver. Alas, it was just the cabinet. It had been converted to a cocktail cabinet.

EH Scott radios have lots of valves. It was Scott’s boast that every valve had a job to do. This is certainly true. You will find two separate AGC amplifiers – one for the RF Stage and another for IF stages. There are scratch filters to remove surface noise from recordings and so on.

Scott made wartime radios, but the company became unprofitable and Scott sold his share of the company and retired soon thereafter. He died in 1951.