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Surprisingly cheap straight-corded handset WE 500...

Started by twocvbloke, August 29, 2017, 12:10:02 PM

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Doug Rose

I thought is was a 500 set, but with the one straight down pic, it is tough to tell....my vote is 500....of course, I've never been wrong.  ;D......Doug
Kidphone

HarrySmith

Quote from: Doug Rose on August 31, 2017, 08:17:22 PM
I thought is was a 500 set, but with the one straight down pic, it is tough to tell....my vote is 500....of course, I've never been wrong.  ;D......Doug

I went back to check the picture. Closer investigation is not revealing anything more to me but I also vote for 500.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

twocvbloke

If it was a 5302 I'd still be happy, I've kept my eye out for them over here for a few years, and either missed them due to lack of funds, or just not found them, but looking at pictures of 5302s, I do believe it's a 500, but it'll be confirmed soon, I hope...  ;D

HarrySmith

Quote from: twocvbloke on August 31, 2017, 08:23:58 PM
If it was a 5302 I'd still be happy, I've kept my eye out for them over here for a few years, and either missed them due to lack of funds, or just not found them, but looking at pictures of 5302s, I do believe it's a 500, but it'll be confirmed soon, I hope...  ;D

I would imagine the 5302 is harder to get than the 500 over there, so that would be an even better deal!
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

Jim Stettler

Quote from: twocvbloke on August 31, 2017, 07:01:42 PM
Comparing pictures of 530x phones, I'm not sure it's a 5302, the gap between the top of the dial and the hook is longer on this than a 5302 which is more 500 than 5302, did get me wondering enough though to investigate... :)

This particular post having a picture being of a similar angle:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=3852.msg148114#msg148114

Hopefully here tomorrow or Saturday, fingers crossed...  ;D

The phone picture looks like a 5302, I looked at the comparison photo and I agree it is probably a 500.
Jim S.
You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

twocvbloke

Quote from: HarrySmith on August 31, 2017, 10:02:52 PM
I would imagine the 5302 is harder to get than the 500 over there, so that would be an even better deal!

Yep, like I say, I've seen a few 5302s over here, but either didn't have the funds for them, or they sold for bigger money than I was willing to go up to...  :-\

Quote from: Jim S. on August 31, 2017, 10:11:56 PM
The phone picture looks like a 5302, I looked at the comparison photo and I agree it is probably a 500.
Jim S.

I understood what you meant as the back end of the phone isn't visible, which kind of makes it look like it's shorter in the rear which is indicative of being a 5302, but the spacing between dial & hook also gives it away, it's much narrower on the 5302... :)

Dan/Panther

I agree, 500.
How much would it cost to ship from The U.S. To Britain ?

D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

twocvbloke

Quote from: Dan/Panther on September 01, 2017, 11:48:47 AM.
How much would it cost to ship from The U.S. To Britain ?

D/P

These days? Too much, I had to turn down a modular WE554 from a friend in Texas as the cost of shipping by USPS was far more than the phone's value, even though the phone was free, it's just the USPS to blame... :(

twocvbloke

Definitely a 500, it's arrived, and it's base is dated as 10/54, G1 handset, receiver & transmitter also 10/54 (rx. 10-19-54, tx. 10-54-19 (odd format!)), haven't opened up the base as I've just been given a HP printer too, so a bit distracted by that!!

Though so far, it's in desperate need of a clean, the dial needs help (slow to return, easy to fix though), and the hookswitch buttons seem to be sticky, but as I say, haven't opened it up as yet, and there's definitely a distinct smell of Tenite about it, so seems very original so far... :)

HarrySmith

Cool! Sounds like it will probably be all original. If the elements have not been changed out that usually indicates nothing else has. Congrats! Is the G-1 bakelite? Don't forget pictures once you open it up!
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

twocvbloke

The G1's definitely bakelite, nice and heavy like my other cobbled-together 500 (parts from my modular in my profile pic to the left there, and parts from a hard-wired sent over from Texas), the cable's feeling a bit on the stiff side, and interestingly, there's still a line cable attached, but the ends seem to have lost all insulation (and the spade terminals) from the conductors, seems the insulation disintegrated sadly... :-\

twocvbloke

So, some oddities, the shell has a date-stamp of "4 13 51 2", the hookswitch buttons are not original, they look like a home bodge-job using a much more modern plastic made form hollow tubes with one end heated (looks burned) and flattened to fit, which is most likely why the hookswitch was sticking as they don't really fit properly...

Overall, the phone's a bit rusty, I think it's been stored damp for a number of years, the plastics have some mould spots to it inside, the baseplate has a coating of "patina" as some call it, and everything's just dirty overall, but, everything is there, the handset cable seems to have come unhooked from the baseplate and over the years it's twisted up behind the dial, and the insulation of which has become cracked and quite brittle, and I daren't try to unravel it for fear of ruining it all and shorting things out, I've not even tested the phone yet so don't know if it even works!!

Still not taken pictures yet, made a bit of a mess with the HP printer earlier so need to put that away before I do any pictures!! ;D

twocvbloke

Right, pictures time!!

twocvbloke

2nd lot of pics, I'll note here that two of the three screws that hold the dial on its bracket are missing, so, someone's been in there before for sure!!!

The last one's just from my testing that HP printer's Copier function (no ink, so the copy came out blank!) and just had to sit something on the scanner!!!  ;D

.....