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WE 500 earpieces: Six v.s. Seven Holes?

Started by HobieSport, November 23, 2008, 01:47:39 PM

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HobieSport

What's the deal about six v.s. seven holes in a WE500 earpiece?

I know this is fairly common knowledge among the initiated but I'm still unclear as a beginner.

Is a six hole earpiece a G1 handset and a seven hole a G3?

When did they switch?

Is there any correlation between these two handsets and the 1958 changeover from colored soft plastic to hard plastic?

Thanks.

bingster

Quote from: HobieSport on November 23, 2008, 01:47:39 PMIs there any correlation between these two handsets and the 1958 changeover from colored soft plastic to hard plastic?
Yep, the seven holes came in with the hard plastic.  I don't know what they're marked, though (G1, G3, etc.)
= DARRIN =



Dennis Markham

Matt,

You will often find a set that has been refurbished and plastic replacement caps were put on a Bakelite G1 handset.  You can usually tell from a distance because the plastic caps are darker or a different color than the Bakelite of the G1.  So the 7 holes is a quick indicator that the caps are later.  However, I have also encountered many 6 hole caps (black) that are plastic and not Bakelite.  Original caps on black G1 handsets, prior to about 1958 had 6 holes and were Bakelite.  There is some degree of difficulty putting a plastic cap on a Bakelite handset---and removing the caps.  This is when the hair dryer technique really works well---warming them up to get them off the Bakelite.

With the colored sets, as mentioned plastic made after mid 1959 were made with ABS plastic (hard plastic).  They say anything was possible as Western Electric used up their material and soft plastic parts were found after the 1959 cut-off date and also hard plastic may have been found before mid-1959.   But generally speaking June of '59 was when soft plastic went away.  So six holes is often an indicator of soft plastic---but not always.  If one is searching for a telephone that is soft plastic this is just one piece of the puzzle---not always a sure indicator that the phone will be soft plastic. 

Perhaps I should make a posting of what I look for when trying to determine a soft plastic phone.  Especially when the shopping has to be done on-line and not in person.

Shovelhead

I just looked at a 500 I have, the base is dated 11-58. It has a G1 handset, 6 hole Bakelite , but the transmitter cap will not come off, so I suspect it's plastic.
I thought this was a original set, but upon checking the case is mold dated 63, the dial is dated 4-62. Never really paid any attention to this set, don't even remember how I acquired it.
I have to guess I've had it since the mid 60's, no later than 1968 though as my collecting days kind of waned after that time period.
This set still has a blank dial card, with Area Code 313 pre-printed on it.

andre_janew

I've been told that 7 holes brings the sound out better than 6.  I have two sets with 6 and two with 7, but I can't tell any difference!

unbeldi

#5
Quote from: andre_janew on June 21, 2015, 08:10:05 PM
I've been told that 7 holes brings the sound out better than 6.  I have two sets with 6 and two with 7, but I can't tell any difference!

I am sure this explanation is entirely based on the simple logic that more area of direct sound path without obstruction is better.

However, the response of the human ear is logarithmic, not linear. That means a small increase in sound pressure on the ear does not produce a proportionally greater perception of the sound. One might speculate that adding a seventh hole adds at best ca. 17% of sound pressure. This is hard if not impossible to distinguish by ear, because for significant recognition of increases in loudness, a doubling of power is needed because of the logarithmic response.  This is also the reason why potentiometers for volume controls in radios and amplifiers are always logarithmic.