Gray 624 Call Director

[ESalter]

Hi Everyone-

I just wanted to share my latest acquisition as I'm quite happy with it.  I found a green Call Director on ebay a few weeks ago.  It showed up, it's a little faded but is in pretty good shape.  It's marked 624A10 on the bottom.  There are a couple strange things about it.  First, it has no hold button.  On the first column of buttons all 6 of them are clear buttons and they latch.  It doesn't have a release button of any kind.  The bottom button on the far right column is momentary and had a sticker under it that said "REC"  On the back is screwed a box that has a on/of turn key and a 1/4" audio jack.  The line cord is long but cut.

So, then last week from the same seller I found a badly faded gray Call Director that's also marked 624A10.  This one doesn't have a box, it just had a pigtail coming out with a audio jack on it.  It has the same button setup and the far bottom right is marked "record" on the designation strip.  Paul F's site says a 624 was made to work with the recorded announcement frame on a #1ESS central office.  If anyone has any more information about these, I'd be very interested in knowing all about it.

I attached a couple pictures here, first is a crappy photo from the auction, you can see how badly it's faded.   The past couple days I've been painting the housing with peroxide and oxy-clean and setting it out in the sun  Today I decided it looked good, so I sanded it a little and buffed it out.  I'm very happy with the result.  You can see the color difference between the housing and handset.  It's still a little brown, but that doesn't want to come out, the inside of the housing looks uniformly the same as the outside.

Lastly, it has a replacement black transmitter cap.  Does anyone happen to have an extra WE light gray one?  Faded is fine, I can retro-brite it back to looking good.

Thanks!
---Eric

[Weco355aman]

Hi Eric
This was used to record the differant announcements on a 6a System.
The 6a had 6 tracks. In one of the 1AESS that i got parts out of they had
7 bay's of 6a announcement systems and 3 of these Set's. The set you have and the bunch that i have will not work as a 1a2 phone. The wiring is not
standard. I've had very good luck reversing the fading by just setting it in the sun and rotating the shell/handset every 2 or 3 days. About 3 to 4 weeks
and the yellowing will be gone. DO NOT DO THIS ABOVE 80 degres.

[ESalter]

That makes sense.  The designation strips on the green one of these I got was gone, but the gray one still had them.  The first column was marked FR1 and the individual buttons were CH0-CH5.  The next column was FR2 and CH0-CH5.  The third was all vacant except for the record button at the bottom.

I haven't even touched the handset yet, the whole thing was the color of the handset when I got it.  If I can get the yellow out of the handset so it matches the housing, I'll be one happy camper!

I might change the wiring in one of them so it'd work on a key system(make it like a 632 only without a hold button).  I'd like to at least be able to have one of them hooked up so it does something.  We will see.

---Eric

[WesternElectricBen]

I've always wanted a call director. Great job on treating the discoloration!

Ben

[ESalter]

My dad and I both really like Call Directors, always have.  Ever since I was probably 12 years old my favorite phones have been these(I guess I like all the buttons) and C1 space savers.  I'm a complete sucker for these older ones with the solid lucite buttons.  We have a couple newer 32 button sets with the bigger square buttons(one black, one beige).  The black one has the two extra buttons for the headset.  They're neat, but my favorites are these old ones. 

I really like the old round button touchtone trimlines too.  With the original clear and paper dial faceplate, that is.  Maybe that's why I like the looks of these old call directors too.  The contrasting color under a clear faceplate just looks cool in my opinion.

Someday I hope to find one of the older version touchtone call directors that have the clear/paper faceplate and solid buttons like these.  Call Directors are pretty scarce to begin with, and those seem to be the least common of what's out there.

---Eric

[WesternElectricBen]

A early touch tone call director would be very cool, I have a early 10 button trimline...

I think I like the call directors for the same reason so many buttons makes you seem like a executive!

Ben