Replacing Mains Connections on a 1948 Phonograph Player

[Alexo]

Hey everyone, I'm a little out of my element on this one.

I'm working on an old, old Bakelite phono/am radio, I think it's a Philco. I've recapped it and checked the resistors and now I am at the mains connections, and this cord has got to go!

This is one of those old sonsabitches that doesn't have a power transformer, it's 100% mains, no 3rd prong.

So I was thinking, since the user does not come in physical contact with any metal parts with this thing, that I could keep with a 2-prong plug, avoid mounting a big iso transformer in the brittle old bakelite, connect the larger lug to the chassis/ground and the other end to the switch (installing a fuse along the way - unbelievable that it didn't come with one!).

But the chassis never references the mains in this guy, it just floats above the circuit. Maybe this is normal, I'm not a radio guy, but it's not what I was expecting. It's not connected to the negative end of the power supply, nothing but the shield pins on the sockets - even the ground on the RCA cable from the phono needle goes through a .22uf cap!

Wouldn't this giant, ungrounded metal shield induce a lot of noise? Kind of like when you hold your guitar and take your fingers off the strings?

*Should* I connect the chassis to the neutral prong on the cord and the negative side of the power supply? Or should I really just suck it up and install an iso xformer and a 3-prong cord? Tempted to leave it as-is with a new 2-pronger and a fuse, but I don't want to take any chances when it comes to mains connections.

Second opinions?

It's late, forgive me if I'm missing something obvious, had to call it a night after inhaling a good dose of burnt mold spores from those old cloth wires.

[Structo]

Yeah those old radios were dangerous.
My grandmother had one in her basement near the washing machine if you can believe that.
I mean the old ringer type machine.

If you touched it with a wet hand it would shock you!

I have always read you should use a iso transformer with those.
But if you put a polarized two prong on, perhaps that would be enough to keep the line off of the chassis?

[DonMoose]

Yeah those old radios were dangerous.
My grandmother had one in her basement near the washing machine if you can believe that.
I mean the old ringer type machine.

If you touched it with a wet hand it would shock you!

I have always read you should use a iso transformer with those.
But if you put a polarized two prong on, perhaps that would be enough to keep the line off of the chassis?

I wouldn't risk it - an iso trans with an outlet can go under the table or something, and you plug the radio into that. That would keep you alive without it getting in the way. My tendency would be to replace the outlet and the radio's plug with something that simply will not fit in a standard outlet to keep the 'helpful' out of trouble, too.