I've seen F17T8 arrangements here using an instant start ballast and two tubes wired in series. A setup like that would need no wires through the center tube.
Making this T8 would be fundamentally wrong though.
I wonder what this thing sound like when firing up! Dave Lay tells me a bunch of sounds preheat fluorescents makes....they don't always all sound the same!
sweet! so Hygrade-Sylvania is pre-1942 stuff? Awesome! that means that this fixture that i restored is from the early 40s! . The ballast that it was made with is this GE. It has the same Hygrade-Sylvania lampholders with a black starter socket built in on one socket.
BTW, I just posted a pic of it lit.
Making this T8 would be fundamentally wrong though.