1963 Light Gray WE 565

[WEBellSystemChristian]

I've been looking for a Light Gray round-button 560-series for a long time, and I finally got one!

www.ebay.com/itm/391969176168

Other than the missing 25-pair cord, it appears to be all-original. It's slightly faded, but a few hours in Peroxide should take care of that.

I found many, many 25 pair cords on eBay, but does anyone know of any sold that are close to the flexibility of WE's cords? My Dad had some extra bulk 25-pair laying around, but it had fairly stiff jacketing by comparison to the original examples I have.

It was $100 total ($85 BiN), but I couldn't click the button fast enough!

[AE_Collector]

I am not 100% certain about WECo but most of these key set cords were regular stranded 24 or maybe 26 gauge conductors and somewhere between 16 and 25 pairs. Inside wire is going to have solid 24 gauge conductors and a tougher jacket do not a good substitute.

If you are okay with an Amphenol ended cord you might just get lucky with a smashed up or badly discoloured keyset that has the newer light gray standardized coloured cord on it. The AE's didn't have silver satin coloured cords but were just a light gray colour.

One of PhonesRfun's Seattle shows someone had a box or two of brown AE186 key sets for free. They all would have had these cords on them. I took two, one for myself as I didn't have one in Espresso Brown and I delivered the second one to DavPEI in the fall of 2015.

Terry

[AL_as_needed]

I should have you pick lotto numbers for me Christian.....seems like lightning strikes monthly for you, excellent find! Cant wait to see more of it 

[WEBellSystemChristian]

I should have you pick lotto numbers for me Christian.....seems like lightning strikes monthly for you, excellent find! Cant wait to see more of it 

I've been checking eBay a lot lately, so I'm picking up on phones more often than usual.

Don't worry, you will!

[WEBellSystemChristian]

My phone came today!!

Overall, it's in great condition, other than one crack in the lift, which should be pretty easy to fix.

The one issue is; it's not dates-matching. The base is '63, housing is '64, one handset cap is '65, the other handset cap, handset cord, and handle are '66, and the dial mech is a 1959 7H from a Moss Green phone at one point. Still, with most dates spanning only 3 years, I'm not complaining!

The is very minimal fading, with only a little from some fluorescent light exposure on the face. The dial bezel is perfect, and the handset/caps have very minor fading as well.

I did find the original line cord, or, at least, the first 5 inches of it! The rest was lopped off just inside the phone, with a modular cord taking its place.

One replaced part that's going is the fingerwheel. Nothing bugs me more than seeing a closed-center wheel on a phone designed for an open-center. I'm sure I'm not the only one like that here!

[AE_Collector]

So is it a 564 with that plunger lift button? We used lots of gray keysets for data transmission sets with those buttons on the left side of the cradle. Dialed up the computer access then once connected lifted the button to cut off the handset and connect to a printer or what ever.

Terry

[RotarDad]

Christian - That is a very nice, uncommon phone.  I believe many of "New" light color phones of that late 50s - early 60s period are refurbs.  This shows the demand for the colors, and the abundance of inventory coming back to the refurb centers.  I've found two light gray 500s.  One had '58 plastics on a 12-57 -58  (white) base, while the other had '59 plastics on a '55 -50 (Ivory) base.  I think the light gray is the nicest "New" color, matching or not.

I, too, dislike the one piece fingerwheel, and the bent finger stop to make it fit a #7 dial.  That Gray 565 must have the correct wheel imho....

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Terry, this is a 565, which was exclusively (no pun intended) a designation for the exclusion feature. It was designed for multiple uses, but the main intent was to cut off other extensions in the system, so you had complete privacy in a conversation. The seller thought this was a 564, for some reason...

Paul, it's funny, because my 1962 Beige 564 is in the same boat--original housing and line cord, but everything else was replaced. The housing on my Gray is a year later than the base and (what's left of) the line cord, but I'll consider it original, as it's the only other part that fits in the "round button era" window.

I discovered that I had a gray cable in the basement all along that would look correct on this phone. It's an extension cable with two Amphenols, and it has stranded conductors. Problem--it's 18-pair, not 25-pair! I'm still looking, through.

[AE_Collector]

Most often these phones would lijely have only had 16-18 pairs. 15 pairs fully cover the 5 possible lines without resorting to dropping grounds. That leaves three pairs for buzzers, bells, exclusion keys etc. So I would think that Cablevision likely perfect except for a bunch of missing spades!

[poplar1]

I think 565 had all 25 pairs in the D50 mounting cord. 564 did not.
Blue-violet pair and orange-violet pair for optional exclusion key.
G-V, BR-V, S-V pairs for speakerphone.

Also, this takes the earlier type cord with wafers that match the horizontal terminal layout.

[WEBellSystemChristian]

It's finished...other than the line cord, of course!

I initially gave the housing and lift a 2-hour Peroxide soak in the UV box, which turned out well. I was in the middle of assembling everything, when I realized that the dial bezel was slightly yellowed along the bottom edge. Sigh, well, I'll soak that too. I gave it a separate 2-hour soak, and as I was assembling everything (again), I noticed that the housing, lift, and handset caps were still ever so slightly more yellow than the now-near-perfect bezel! A four-hour soak of those parts removed all remaining yellow. The only parts that weren't peroxide-treated are the handset handle and the handset cord.

Whoever owned/used this phone before took care of it. VERY good care of it. It was definitely in a smoke-free environment for it's entire 52-55 year life. There wasn't a single trace of nicotine dust or smell inside, nor a trace of dirt or filth. The feet are the only round ones that I have that are still perfectly pliable, which tells me this was never in a humid or damp environment, which I believe is what contributed to those rubber feet drying out. No base rust at all, either. The discoloration I treated looks like it came from florescent lighting in an office. I would guess it spent the worst part of it's life in a drawer or closet somewhere, not a basement, attic, or garage.

I think it turned out great! Some polish and wax really brings out the NOS-ness this phone feels like it has!

[Pourme]

It turned out really nice, Christian. It's nice to tear one down and find a well cared for piece. You did good! Very good find.