1949 302 just restored

[HarrySmith]

1949 302 just completed restoration. I finally remembered to take some before pictures! A few attached and more here:

http://s970.photobucket.com/user/HarrySmith57/library/1949%20302

[JimH]

Very nice job!  Looks like a frame off restoration!  Now its ready for another 65 years of faithful service.

[Mr. Bones]

Great job, Harry!

You do beautiful work, and it shows!

Best regards!

[Babybearjs]

looks like my work..... I take them all apart.... clean them up real nice and put them back together..... oh, ya.... and I test them too!

[Matilo Telephones]

Wow, great job!

What did you use to polish those bells? There are galvanised steel, are they not?

[dsk]

Really great job, I guess its looking better than it was as new.  I have to admit to only use the vacuum cleaner inside the phones.

dsk

[persido]

Great work, I need to take some lessons from you. The handset has a great shine.

[Matilo Telephones]

Really great job, I guess its looking better than it was as new.  I have to admit to only use the vacuum cleaner inside the phones.

dsk

I use a soft 2 inch paintbrush for dusting and a medium toothbrush. A small vacuumcleaner is on my wishlist. :-)

Sometimes I go a little bit further. I do sometimes clean and polish everything, down to the last little screw. But only in special cases.

[HarrySmith]

Thanks for the props guys. This is the one I am selling to a CL customer, where I was asking about a fair price. The ringer gongs are brass, I always shine them up. My wife says it is my trademark. I start by cleaning them in the kitchen sink with a Brillo pad. It seems they have some kind of sealer or something on them, they won't shine until it is removed. After the Brillo treatment I use a product I was introduced to while in the Navy. It is called "Neverdull", on the ship it was used on all the brass. It works on other metals too. It is a wadding soaked in some chemicals, rub it on, let dry and buff. Easy and great shine.

[Matilo Telephones]

Sealer on the bells? Like a sort of wax? Or laquer?

[HarrySmith]

I'm not sure, some kind of laquer type stuff I think. All I know is I cannot get a good shine without stripping them first.

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Beautiful restoration! Didn't the 49ers have straight rubber cords?

[poplar1]

Beautiful restoration! Didn't the 49ers have straight rubber cords?

The H3AG and D3AY rubber cords weren't installed on new 302s until 1952. 1949 still had cloth cords H3C and D3AL.

[HarrySmith]

Actually it did have straight rubber cords on it when I got it. The line cord was cut off and the handset cord was rock hard. I installed a cloth handset cord from a NOS F1W handset I got from Steve Hilsz a few years ago. The line cord is a new modular one. I recommended to the customer to let me put a coiled handset cord on to make it easier to use.

[poplar1]

Actually it did have straight rubber cords on it when I got it. The line cord was cut off and the handset cord was rock hard. I installed a cloth handset cord from a NOS F1W handset I got from Steve Hilsz a few years ago. The line cord is a new modular one. I recommended to the customer to let me put a coiled handset cord on to make it easier to use.

Harry,

So the customer didn't take your recommendation for a coiled cord?

Are you planning to keep the original number card?

I'd be real surprised if the rubber cords were original to the set. Although some rubber cords were already available in the 1940s, especially for humid locations, all the black 302s I have seen with all matching dates had cloth cords from 1937-1951 and rubber cords in 1952. However, when the phones went back to the shop for refurbishing, they often got new rubber cords then. This one also has a 6A dial which had to have been added in 1952 or later.