Western Electric 500.... for Christmas!

[Smooth765]

Yes, I got one for Christmas.  I just gotta figure out how to hook it up.  It's got a 4 prong plug.

[bingster]

Those big plugs are removable, and are held together with a screw or sometimes two.  If you remove the screw, the plug will come apart, and you'll see the four individual conductors in the mounting cord.  Unscrew the conductors from the plug's housing, and you can then screw them under the correspondingly-colored terminals that are found inside any baseboard telephone jack.

Alternatively, you can leave the four prong plug in place, and purchase an adapter that will allow you to connect the four-prong plug to any modular jack.  You can get those at most hardware stores, and on the internet.

[Smooth765]

I was gonna get the adapter.  Do they sell them at Radio Shack?

[bingster]

I would think so, but you may want to call ahead to be sure.

[Sargeguy]

You can also find the 4-prong jacks at PHONECO and other locations.  I personally like to keep the plugs on the phones, especially the round type, and I usually switch out the jack.  It is easier to find a jack adapter for modular to 4-prong at Radio Shack than it is for 4-prong to modular (they don't have them).  What type of plug is it? Round or square?

[Smooth765]

It's square.

[Sargeguy]

Those square ones can be pretty ugly, IMO and thge cord stops often do not stay inside very well.  You may want to follow bingster's advice, or get a modular plug that lets you attach spade tips.  These are available at PHONECO, Oldphoneworks, etc:

[Dan]

Yes, I got one for Christmas.  I just gotta figure out how to hook it up.  It's got a 4 prong plug.

Excellent. I got a 1959 Moss green WE 500. All original, except the back was converted to modular.

here's how I converted an original red WE500 with a four prong original 25 foot cord.
ON the four prong adapter, I  unscrewed it and found the red and green prong posts  inside. I then took a modular plug, cut the end off one side, exposing the two wires, twisted them around the red and green prongs, popped the 4 prong plug back together, and ended up with a modular clip coming off the original 4 prong jack. It looks a little strange, but back behind the couch you can't see it. The original cords are still in place that way.It can always be converted back to original later.

[McHeath]

That's clever.

[Smooth765]

Well, I got it hooked up.  Wow.  It works, when someone called me, it scared the crap outta me!!!!!  It takes some getting used to dialing rotary.  I've used touchtone for so long.

[bingster]

They are loud aren't they?  The same thing happened to me when I corrected the wiring on my old 500 for the first time since I dissected it as a teenager.  Tweaking the volume knob helps to keep you from jumping out of your skin, though.

You'll get used to the rotary dial fairly quickly with regular use.  Unless you have to dial an area code for local calls.  That's just a pain.

[PSGreg]

Hey Smooth765,
                                Congrats on the new phone.  Can you post a picture?
Best,
         Greg

[McHeath]

I kept a rotary in service pretty much all my life, so I never had to readapt to them when I got into collecting them.  But it sure is a different kind of experience after using touch tone and speed dial and cell phones with voice commands.  The ringers will wake the dead eh!  They can be tamed down with some tinkering. 

[Smooth765]

Yeah, I'll post pics later.
Why would you have to dial area codes for local numbers?
Just wondering.

[bingster]

Some places (like here around DC) you have to dial the full ten digits even if you're only calling next door.    I'm not sure why.