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Anyone in California good with typewriters?/I got a typewriter.

Started by Snake, March 01, 2012, 07:48:36 PM

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Snake

So I picked up a really nice underwood typewriter(I believe it's from 1941 due to stamping on the inside, and the book it came with was dated 41). It's in really good condition in my opinion, the metal on the outside shines like chrome and I don't see any sign of rust on it at all. All the keys function properly, and so does everything else on it as far as I know.
Since I have no experience with typewriters, I was thinking of getting some help with it from a service, or possibly someone on here? All it needs is a cleaning/lube, and a new ribbon. I'm located in California, in the Bay Area. If anyone near by can help, it would be greatly appreciated and I can pay for your time, materials, the new ribbon etc. Also, if you have any input on the typewriter I'd love to hear it, especially since I don't really know anything about it.Thanks for Reading! ;D

jsowers

Tristan, have you let your fingers do the walking yet? As in consulting your local Yellow Pages? A Google search turned up this interesting article from 2010 about three typewriter repair places in the Bay area. Hopefully one of them is still in business and can help you.

http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2010/05/gallery-typewriters/all/1

The article (and stacks of typewriters) brought back lots of memories of the typewriters I've used over the years, having grown up in the years before computers. My mom's Royal Quiet DeLuxe and my Adler Electric came to mind. And all the IBMs and Royals I used when I was in school and that were still here when I started working for the school system. My favorite is the IBM Electronic 85 that had memory to store documents and no battery backup. It was an overly complicated beast, but I loved it.
Jonathan

bingster

If all it needs is a bit of dusting out and lubrication, that's something you can do yourself.  It doesn't require any disassembly, so all you'd need is a small paint brush for dusting in between the levers, etc., and a can of 3-in-1 oil to lubricate every pivot point and moving part you can find.  It's really very easy, and will make a world of difference in the action.
= DARRIN =



rp2813

I just picked up a (Smith) Corona model 3C, which per the serial number is vintage 1940.  It was $10 at Salvation Army.  It's a nice low-profile portable design and has the old-school layout with things like the apostrophe located at shift+8, quotation marks at shift+2, no numeral 1 (use lower case L instead) and no exclamation point (use apostrophe, backspace, then period), along with a few other now-quirky and non-qwerty placements.  

I'm giving it as a birthday gift to a friend (age 33) who has mentioned in the past wanting an old manual typewriter.  Everything works and the platen is smooth.  The only thing I've done is flip the ribbon spools, as it looks like nobody ever did that and one side is well used while the other is virgin.  

Now I'm hoping it's still possible to buy erasable bond paper, as I'd like to include a pack with the typewriter.  It will no doubt be necessary.  I've tried this thing out and I'm amazed I could ever do even 40 WPM on such a machine.

I know there's a place in Berkeley that does maintenance and repair on typewriters.  I think they go by California Office Equipment or California Typewriter.  They're on San Pablo Avenue.  Channel 5's "Eye On the Bay" program ran a story on them sometime last fall, so you can probably pull up the segment on their web site.  I also found this site for maintenance tips:  http://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/troubleshooting2.jpg

Sorry for the blurry picture.  It was taken a while back, before I realized a camera setting was wrong.  I like the glass keys.  The "F" has since been returned to its fully upright position.
Ralph

Snake

Quote from: rp2813 on March 11, 2012, 04:10:08 AM
I just picked up a (Smith) Corona model 3C, which per the serial number is vintage 1940.  It was $10 at Salvation Army.  It's a nice low-profile portable design and has the old-school layout with things like the apostrophe located at shift+8, quotation marks at shift+2, no numeral 1 (use lower case L instead) and no exclamation point (use apostrophe, backspace, then period), along with a few other now-quirky and non-qwerty placements.  

I'm giving it as a birthday gift to a friend (age 33) who has mentioned in the past wanting an old manual typewriter.  Everything works and the platen is smooth.  The only thing I've done is flip the ribbon spools, as it looks like nobody ever did that and one side is well used while the other is virgin.  

Now I'm hoping it's still possible to buy erasable bond paper, as I'd like to include a pack with the typewriter.  It will no doubt be necessary.  I've tried this thing out and I'm amazed I could ever do even 40 WPM on such a machine.

I know there's a place in Berkeley that does maintenance and repair on typewriters.  I think they go by California Office Equipment or California Typewriter.  They're on San Pablo Avenue.  Channel 5's "Eye On the Bay" program ran a story on them sometime last fall, so you can probably pull up the segment on their web site.  I also found this site for maintenance tips:  http://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/troubleshooting2.jpg

Sorry for the blurry picture.  It was taken a while back, before I realized a camera setting was wrong.  I like the glass keys.  The "F" has since been returned to its fully upright position.

Sounds like your's is like mine, as far as the key layout. I know I would have picked it up for $10 bucks! I think I'm going to go over to the typewriter shop in Berkeley and check it out once I get a chance, and have time for it.

rp2813

Bring cash or plastic -- in case you can't resist the temptation.  They sell refurbed manual typewriters (with limited warranty IIRC) for as little as $50.
Ralph