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Freebie "French" Repro

Started by Ed Morris, November 27, 2017, 09:33:47 PM

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Ed Morris

I have a brother-in-law who often gets old radios or, in this case, a reproduction "French" phone thrown in with an auction lot he is bidding on.  He gave me this phone shown below he won in a lot of items recently.  The phone appears to be a 1970's era Japanese reproduction.  I don't really know much about it, but the dial is very stiff.

I probably won't get to this for a while due to other projects on the bench.

Ed

poplar1

This appears to have been modified with Western Electric parts. That is a Western Electric dial.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

Ed Morris

Interesting.  I will post more photos with info on the parts inside when I get a chance to get into it.
Ed

LarryInMichigan

Quote from: poplar1 on November 27, 2017, 11:05:09 PM
This appears to have been modified with Western Electric parts. That is a Western Electric dial.

I dismantled one of these (the exact same model) several years ago.  All of the electrical parts were WE, including the 4010 network.


Larry

Ed Morris

So it should be a decent working phone once I get it restored?
Ed

LarryInMichigan

Quote from: Ed Morris on November 28, 2017, 03:51:08 PM
So it should be a decent working phone once I get it restored?

It should be, but it still won't be worth much.

Larry

HarrySmith

IIRC what I was told several years ago when I had a customer who collected the original European models of these they were imported by the ton back in the 80's. Dials were added and they were updated for use in the US. They can be found with parts from any manufacturer in them depending on who did the update & where they were updated.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

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

LarryInMichigan

Quote from: HarrySmith on November 28, 2017, 05:22:39 PM
IIRC what I was told several years ago when I had a customer who collected the original European models of these they were imported by the ton back in the 80's. Dials were added and they were updated for use in the US. They can be found with parts from any manufacturer in them depending on who did the update & where they were updated.

Oh well.  In that case, never mind.

Larry

Ed Morris

Now I'm confused.  Is this a European phone modified in Japan with WECO parts or a Japanese reproduction using WECO parts?
Ed

LarryInMichigan

It's a Japanese replica of a Danish phone.  It apparently may or may not have WE parts inside. 

Larry

TelePlay

Quote from: LarryInMichigan on November 28, 2017, 08:49:58 PM
It's a Japanese replica of a Danish phone.  It apparently may or may not have WE parts inside. 

Larry

This was offered by unbeldi a few years ago about these phones:

"The original design of these phones is based on the Danish company KTAS and goes back to the around 1908 or so.  That original model was something like 'D-08' and those were built for a long time, so that the parts were reused and new variants created by many after-market sellers. In Denmark, Expoga  (spelling?) also modernized the design. Eventually, these phones were newly mass-produced in Japan primarily for the American market after it became legal to install a privately own phone, but can be found also in Europe. They are usually marked DO-8 , JN-4, US-4, and perhaps others."

Ed Morris

You guys have gotten my curiosity aroused so now I'm going to have to peek inside this phone!
Ed

HarrySmith

Quote from: TelePlay on November 28, 2017, 09:00:58 PM
This was offered by unbeldi a few years ago about these phones:

"The original design of these phones is based on the Danish company KTAS and goes back to the around 1908 or so.  That original model was something like 'D-08' and those were built for a long time, so that the parts were reused and new variants created by many after-market sellers. In Denmark, Expoga  (spelling?) also modernized the design. Eventually, these phones were newly mass-produced in Japan primarily for the American market after it became legal to install a privately own phone, but can be found also in Europe. They are usually marked DO-8 , JN-4, US-4, and perhaps others."
That sounds like what I was told more or less. The customer I had collected the original DO-8 models. Some of them were very nice, they had things like silk cords and real gold plated parts. I was impressed by the construction, very well built and very neat. The hand wrapped wiring & harnesses for example, there were no lugs on the wires, the stranded wire was braided into a loop to go around the screws and the cloth insulation threads were wrapped around the ends, very nice work.
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

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

LarryInMichigan

The Danish D08s were imported in large quantities to the USA, so they are not especially difficult to find for cheap.  I have on in great condition.  They are not generally in quite original condition as they were refurbished for sale in the USA.  These phones are very heavy.

Larry

Ed Morris

Well, I won't be restoring this phone for a while.  I took a peek inside, and the phone has been gutted  :(.  The only parts left are the receiver, transmitter, and dial.  I didn't pull the dial to see if what type it is.

Ed