My first AE/GTE phone - a Starlite!!!

[twocvbloke]

I was rather pleased to have won this one, given my recent failures to win other phones for one reason or another, especially as it's something different...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190846815184

I don't know if it's the illuminated version, if it is then that'll be fun, if not, it doesn't matter cos I like it as it is anyway, looks like it just needs a line cable fitting and a possibly a bit of converting...

At least the colour would match my GPO 740 with the broken brown shell, or at least the picture looks that way...

[dsk]

Congratulations.
AE has made good, and bad phones, my Starlite wall telephone are definitely a good one, so I guess Starlite is of the good ones, even when it is quite light weight. (My AE 80E is an interesting one, but good, no!)
The Starlite dials seems to be with letters over the numbers if it is illuminated and under if its not.
(My observation)

My wife, who not are interested in phones went for a Starlite table top telephone beside the bed. 

dsk

[AE_Collector]

You are correct dsk. Twocvbloke's Starlite will not be the illuminating model. The single plunger version like this one is the newest version.

Terry

[LarryInMichigan]

I would expect that these are rather uncommon in the UK.  The Italian version is probably more common.

Larry

[twocvbloke]

Ah well, 'tis a shame about not being an illuminated model, but no matter, it's still a new toy for me to play with, I mean study it thoroughly and learn how it works...

Makes me wonder if there's a chocolate brown GPO line cable available to match this Starlite, I'm sure I've seen them, they must have made some for the brown Yeoman line like my 740...

Still, all in good time I suppose, got to work on moving house first (about a fortnight left)...

I would expect that these are rather uncommon in the UK.

I'd agree with that, a lot of the american & canadian phones I've seen for sale have either been bought on peoples' holidays or have been imported as a novelty, either way it makes them a touch pricey if a bidding war starts...

[LarryInMichigan]

It's interesting that British phones for sale go begging for buyers.  I have two 300 series which I bought for cheap.

Larry

[twocvbloke]

It's interesting that British phones for sale go begging for buyers.  I have two 300 series which I bought for cheap.

Larry

You should list them on ebay UK, you'll probably get about £500 for them...

[twocvbloke]

It arrived today, I'm just having a quick play with it, I noticed it has a modular socket on the base so I just hooked it up to the 616 for a little testing and it seems to work nicely...

I had to adjust the bell as the clapper was a bit up close and personal with it, but I love the ring it makes, sounds like some of the vintage phone sounds they put into Family Guy (especially as they have someone onboard who must like old phones cos a lot of them seem rather accurate!!), needs a bit of a clean inside and out, but I'm quite happy with it... 

Just awaiting the pictures transferring from phone to laptop via email (saves finding the USB cable!!), I'll post them in a bit...

[twocvbloke]

Well, I finally got round to getting the pictures (was interrupted many times by the brother and his computer issues, mostly caused by him thinking he can fix it but he really can't), and I was playing with the dial, boy that's a weird one, completely silent when winding it up, then sounds similar to a GPO dial when released...

All in all it's a nice phone, I daren't dismantle it yet to clean it up though, it's very unfamiliar inside, though I'm sure it's simple enough to work on...

Anyway, pics...

[WesternElectricBen]

Though the dials are easy to lubercate just the average points and pull together the governor "wings."

[twocvbloke]

The dial works fine so doesn't really need working on, but it looks similar to a GPO dial in there so not too hard to figure out I'm sure...

The dial is missing a dial card cover though, I'm guessing it's a clip-on affair cos there's nothing visible to remove as it is, and the screw that holds the fingerwheel on isn't covered by anything, so, logic dictates the cover is missing...

[WesternElectricBen]

The dial works fine so doesn't really need working on, but it looks similar to a GPO dial in there so not too hard to figure out I'm sure...

The dial is missing a dial card cover though, I'm guessing it's a clip-on affair cos there's nothing visible to remove as it is, and the screw that holds the fingerwheel on isn't covered by anything, so, logic dictates the cover is missing...

Actually I think your wrong. You could either put a card under the fingerwheel or have a stick on card over the finger wheel. Unless if that is what your trying to explain.
Ben

[twocvbloke]

Oh, seems you're right on that one, I was looking on OPW to see if they had anything and spotted this:

https://www.oldphoneworks.com/automatic-electric-clear-fingerwheel-screw-type.html

Which is the fingerwheel I have on this one, so, yeah, needs a stick-on dial card then...

[WesternElectricBen]

Oh, seems you're right on that one, I was looking on OPW to see if they had anything and spotted this:

https://www.oldphoneworks.com/automatic-electric-clear-fingerwheel-screw-type.html

Which is the fingerwheel I have on this one, so, yeah, needs a stick-on dial card then...

Or you can stab a hole through as center of a dial card for the screw. Then you don't have to worry about the reached sticker residue.
Ben

[stub]

twocvbloke,
                 Nice phone !! stub