Is Western Electric Quality a myth?

[zuperdee]

I believe the carryover of the Quality system is why some of the features in the 1948/1949 field trial versions did not make it to production.

What specific features are you referring to?

I would say WE is better overall, except my AE 80  rde soft plastic body is thicker and heavier than it's WE500 counterpart. I like the waking cradle design of the AE  80 better too.

I have one of the early AE-80 models here, refurbished with hard plastic housing and a black plastic handset, but still with those cool chrome plungers. I agree, they were very well built, except for 2 things:

1) The dial, though it does have a dust cover on the rear, it still isn't totally enclosed on the front.

2) The AE circuit was not as good--it lacked automatic loop compensation, for example. That said, it still sounds pretty good to me once you set the potentiometer on the bottom correctly.

[Dan/Panther]

Zuperdee;
The Field Trial test phones configuration, as compared to the 1949 production phone left hardly a single component, internally unchanged.
The case and handset are about all that did not get modified.
I've attached what is thought to be a Field Trail test set 1948, study the drawing and you will find 10 variations from 49 and on  production sets.

Things changed from Field trial to production model were..
Ringer (1),
Network (2),
Equalizer (3),
Dial (4),
Dial mounting Bracket (5),
Finger wheel (Not Numbered),
Dial face ( Not Numbered ),
Chassis (9),
Feet ( Not Numbered But are screw on ),
AND
Contact spring Assembly (14 & 15)
Mounting method Screwed on compared to rivets ( 22) .
D/P

[zuperdee]

The Field Trial test phones configuration, as compared to the 1949 production phone left hardly a single component, internally unchanged.

Okay, I do see how changes were made to the items you've pointed out in the diagram, but I fail to see how this correlates with the original statement about "features that did not make it to production." Were there any features removed from the production models that were present in the field trial versions?

I also fail to see how any of the changes you mention correlate with the alleged deterioration of quality control that was mentioned. Is there evidence that any of the changes resulted in greater failure rate or diminished serviceability in places where it mattered?

For all we know, some of the changes were probably made simply for manufacturing reasons, and others were probably genuine improvements--for example: I am prepared to believe that they might have changed the orientation of the switch hook levers from horizontal to vertical in order to make the levers less prone to bending over time.

[Dan/Panther]

Zuperdee;
Don't get me wrong, I think all of the changes resulted in a better phone in most cases, and a simpler design. I was just answering the question of what changed.. Some changes, I can say from my experience, were to make it easier to work on the set, some may have been cost savings, ease of manufacturing, or assembly.
I would say the Field Trial sets were as good, as the production sets, just refined some.
D/P