10-button Trimline haul!

[AdamAnt316]

Hello everyone. I attended the NEAR-Fest amateur radio swapmeet this past weekend, looking for whatever I could manage to find. At one seller's table, I spotted a crate of filthy Western Electric phones: two 500s (black and beige, I think), and three beige Trimlines. Out of curiosity, I lifted the handset of one of the Trimlines (desk type), and lo and behold, it sported a 10-button touchtone dial! I lifted the handset of another one (wall type), and yet again, ten buttons! Lifted the handset of the third, but this one proved to be standard 12-button.

I picked up the two 10-button Trimlines, and asked the seller how much he wanted: $10 each, or $15 for two. Sold! I have yet to test them, and both of them need a hell of a cleaning, but they seem to be in pretty good shape overall. The desk one has a modular adapter on the end of it's (apparently original) line cord, and the wall one has a short piece of quad cable sticking out of the bottom. All in all, I think I did fairly well.
-Adam

[jsowers]

Please post some before and after pictures if you can. This sounds like a good candidate for the October Find of the Month.

[paul-f]

Well done, Adam !!!

[AdamAnt316]

Thanks, Paul. 

I'll try to take some before and after pics once it's light outside. What would be best to use for cleaning the dirt from the cord? I'm planning to use Windex (or an equivalent) for the plastic, but am not sure what to use on the coiled cord. Anyway, thanks in advance!
-Adam

[jsowers]

Windex on a paper towel will work fine for the cords too. Or if the dirt is stubborn, I use denatured alcohol on a paper towel. You can also use that on the housing. On a Trimline, it's fine to use alcohol. Just not on soft plastic.

[AdamAnt316]

Here are some before pics:





I'll take the after pics once I finish cleaning them up.
-Adam

[jsowers]

They have a lot of potential, Adam. One other thing I meant to say was don't ever spray anything onto the faceplate of an older Trimline, where the holes for all the buttons are. The backing for the faceplate is paper and it will wrinkle and show water spots if exposed to too much moisture.

It looks like that part of your Trimlines is in good shape, so I thought I'd better give you a heads up, just in case.

When they refurbed Trimlines of this vintage, they put a thin stainless steel faceplate in place of the paper one, so yours look to be original.

Keep us posted on the progress. It's great you have a wall model and a desk model too.

[GG]

Nice.  Darn good find there. 

What I do with grotty handset cords (aside from cloth ones) is submerge them in lukewarm soapy water for about fifteen minutes, and then pull them through a sponge a few times.  That takes care of most of the crud, and a scrub with a dedicated toothbrush and dishwashing liquid takes care of anything else other than ink and suchlike stains.  (Note, after about a half hour, detergents lose their grip on dirt molecules, which end up drifting loose in the water and re-depositing on the surfaces again, so stick to 15 minutes to be safe.)  Then I just leave them on a clean surface to dry completely. 

There is also a technique for re-coiling stretched handset cords: just reverse the direction of the coil all the way through.  Easier to do than to describe, requires two hands, is somewhat tedious, but the results are good: the spirals get nice and tight again.