A Limey here.

[Greg G.]

Well the phone came yesterday.
It's Lime Green alright. Feels nice to hold one in my grubby little hands, THAT BELONGS TO ME.
It does have 3 issues, well maybe 4.
1) It does need sanding as it has a brown tint to it.,
2) It has been dropped at one point, and has a compression mark at the lower rear, not so bad it can't be worked out.
3) A very slight horizontal crack at the front right corner. Again that can be fixed, and be relatively undetectable.
I pointed these out to the seller, and he agreed to refund $25.00. So in reality, I paid $100.00 for the phone.

Point number 4, and I need opinions on this one. The phone is not W.E., and I know that, I do not care for S/C components, they just don't stand up to W.E. What I want to do is, replace all the works with a vintage 1960 or so W.E. chassis, including dial, and the base. It has rubber feet, but I prefer the leather. Being it's not a W.E. would I be wrong in exchanging the works to W.E. ? I would of course keep the original parts in case I ever sold the Phone, Yeah Right !!

D/P

I wonder if the compression/bulge would have resulted from a drop.  If it's not cracked and only mishappen, in my mind that would have been the result of heat exposure, but I'm only taking an educated guess.  The horizontal crack I would just fix with some super-glue over it after you've got it sanded down.

As far as swapping out components with a WE, depends on the condition of the base.  It'll be interesting to hear what others say, but if it were my phone, I lean towards keeping original components as much as possible.  So unless the base is in really bad shape, I would leave it as is, but that's JMHO.

[Adam]

Being it's not a W.E. would I be wrong in exchanging the works to W.E. ?

Of course, whatever pleases you in your collection is the most important, but for me, I wouldn't do it.  It's just not something you would see legitimately in the field.

Not all Stromberg/Carlson parts were created equal.  Like ITT, they only got "cheaper" in later years of manufacture. Perhaps you could find an S/C 500 base from an earlier year that you like better.  Or, you could replace it with ITT guts from a period you like.  An ITT set with S/C plastics is definitely something you'd see legitimately in the field, created by telephone refurbishers for private telephone companies.

But ITT or S/C plastics on a WE base, doesn't work for me...  It's like mixing limes and oranges (to mix a popluar metaphor with the two rarer 500 colors).

[Adam]

More on ITT phones with S/C plastics or vice versa, here is a pic from my collection of archived (stolen) pics from eBay that illustrates an ITT base from 1970 refurbished by Stromberg/Carlson in 1972.  It has the standard markings for both manufacturers.

[Mr. Bones]

What I want to do is, replace all the works with a vintage 1960 or so W.E. chassis, including dial, and the base.
Being it's not a W.E. would I be wrong in exchanging the works to W.E. ? I would of course keep the original parts in case I ever sold the Phone, Yeah Right !!
D/P

D/P,

     My personal opinion is: make it how you like it, especially in light of keeping the original parts to return it to original. If the SC components are not as serviceable, or high quality as the WE, and you wish to regularly use the phone, I certainly would swap out.

Looks like a beaut; keep us posted, please.

Best regards!

[mentalstampede]

Do what you want, as long as you're not making a lamp!!!

[HarrySmith]

I say whatever you want to do withyour phones, do it!!

Brings up an old, old saying...... "If it feels good, do it!"

[Dan/Panther]

I do have a ITT painted brown phone. I'll check the guts to see if they are up to the early standards. The S/C parts that came with the has a frequency ringer, The dial card is marked 1, so I guess it's the first of two lines. Anyhow. I need to change a lot on the phone to make it what I want. I plan to check the ITT base and see if it's more to what I'm looking for.I checked the ITT base, and it's much nicer but pretty much same format, and vintage. So I switched them.
The shell is about 50% sanded, I'll finish it up tomorrow and put it on the base, and see if it still works.

D/P

[Dan/Panther]

A little bit further.
D/P

[Mr. Bones]

Looks like it is coming along nicely! I can hardly wait to see the results, D/P!

Best regards!

[Dan/Panther]

I've got the Lime Green back together. I probably could have spent more time sanding, But I was anxious to get it back together. I'll work further on it later.
The compression at the rear corner is not noticeable anymore, and the small crack at the front right leg is hardly visible.
The cord is still slightly brown tinted at the handset, and the dial is tinted also.
I'm a happy camper for the price.

D/P

[WesternElectricBen]

Looks really nice, well done! Quite lucky for you having that in your collection, as well.

Ben

[Dan/Panther]

I bought a new Handset cord, but i need to take a kink out of it. The old wrap around a dowel, and heat trick.
D/P