Receiver volume issue on Princess phone

[Rex_S]

I bought a Princess phone 701B that was labeled for parts only not working.  When I got it home, it actually all worked except for the dial that wouldn't turn.  It received and transmitted fine with perfect volume.  I took the dial off, cleaned and lubed it and reinstalled and it dialed out great.  Problem is the volume on the receiver is now really low.  I put in another receiver element known to have no issues and same low volume.  Anyone have ideas on this?

[unbeldi]

It sounds to me that you misadjusted the off-normal shunt contacts on the dial when cleaning it.
The dial has two sets of contacts,  one switch for producing the dial pulses. This switch is normally closed and opens for the pulses.  The second set of contacts is for a normally open switch with white wires which is closed while the dial is operated, placing a short across the receiver so that the user cannot hear the pulses.  Now, in many of the princesses this switch doesn't completely eliminate hearing the pulses, apparently because of dust or oxidation build-up on the contacts, so that the pulses are faintly audible, in addition to dial tone.
If your contacts do the same it is possible that you observe the same phenomenon, but with the contacts always closed.

Make sure that they actually operate.  You can test them by placing a small strip of paper or cardboard between them to keep them open during a test call.