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Hello from Wichita Ks.

Started by Zombie Dave, March 07, 2018, 08:31:35 PM

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Zombie Dave

 No clue why,  but I got a sudden urge to get a rotary phone last week. 
Spent all day Sunday going to the few antique shops that were open.
Found several but all had either minor or major issues.  Cracked case or chunk missing. One green ( I'm not yet familiar with the color names ) one looked like a mouse had nibbled on a corner.
  While I was tempted,  I refrained from getting any of these as I didn't know if they could be repaired.
My quest continued however and I'm now the proud owner of one 1983 Western Electric 500 I think.
Seems to be in really great shape.  The addiction has started and I'm on the hunt for more.
Looking forward to learning and I appreciate this forum being here to enjoy reading,  learning and hopefully contributing.

Thank you!

jsowers

Welcome to the Forum, Dave! You were wise to not get a problem phone right off. Ease into it and take on the problems as you gain some experience in how they work. There are many, many posts on the Forum about refinishing and repairing phones like the ones you passed up. I think if I were you, I'd stay away from the ones with chunks missing out of the housing unless they're cheap and you want them for parts.

I'll let Harry tell you what comes next since he likes to do that. :)  You said in your post on the nice ivory 500DM you have that a landline is coming. A very wise choice! Nothing works better with an old phone than a POTS line. And you have something you can use in an emergency.
Jonathan

WEBellSystemChristian

Yup, Harry's probably frantically typing out the progressive symptoms of the "disease' in question as we speak! ;D ;)

Welcome to the forum! It looks like you're already a 500 fan! I saw the phone in your other topic...it looks nice! It's a later production Western Electric 500, and after 35 years, 1983 was the last full year of production for that model.

Definitely keep your eye out for a nice phone you like, once you learn a bit about them. Search "vintage phone" on ebay...you'd be surprised how many are listed! :)
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

HarrySmith

#3
Hi Dave! Welcome to the asylum! That "urge" you got is called Phoneitis. Everyone here is afflicted. It is a progressive, incurable disease, the ony treatment is more phones. Soon you will be spending all your time and money on old phones. Also it branches out to phone related items, tools, books, switchboards, phone booths or full complete central office switches! The list goes on forever.
You have found the best forum on the net. Lots of people here with tons of knowledge & experience who are willing to help.

PS- I almost forgot to add - We Love Pictures!
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

.....

Welcome to CRPF Dave.


Zombie Dave

Thank you so much for all of the replies! I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner.  I just noticed the little " Show new replies to your posts " area.  :( I'm still learning about this forum and stumbling around. 
I'm going to try and add a picture of my newest purchase ( Nope! I'm having issues with that today.
Got lucky before so I'll be reading up on how to do this and figure out what I'm doing wrong) .  There's also one I have my eyes on for parts, but unsure what a good price for a parts phone is. 
Book recommendations?
Edit: The pic didn't show on my end in the preview.

Zombie Dave

Quote from: HarrySmith on March 08, 2018, 07:04:48 AM
Hi Dave! Welcome to the asylum! That "urge" you got is called Phoneitis. Everyone here is afflicted. It is a progressive, incurable disease, the ony treatment is more phones. Soon you will be spending all your time and money on old phones. Also it branches out to phone related items, tools, books, switchboards, phone booths or full complete central office switches! The list goes on forever.
You have found the best forum on the net. Lots of people here with tons of knowledge & experience who are willing to help.

PS- I almost forgot to add - We Love Pictures!
I'm wanting some tools for sure!!!  The one used to remove the finger dial for example. And books! Gotta love books. :)

jsowers

A fingerwheel tool is very useful, but you can use a paper clip or a push pin--one of those with the plastic on the end. There are straight pins with little plastic ball tips on the end that work well too.

Your latest purchase goes really well with your background. Is that wallpaper? That background has the colors of five WE phones in it. Aqua blue, moss green, yellow, dark blue (some call it Mediterranean blue) and black. Dark blue is the same color as the phone in my avatar. So you have lots of choices for phones in that room. The aqua blue phone you got looks to be in great shape and from the early 1960s or maybe the late 50s. It has large feet and the open center fingerwheel.

Prices for parts phones vary widely and depend of which parts you need that it still has. The open center fingerwheels break easily and cords go missing or get cut, so those are probably the most used parts. Sometimes you can find just the part you need or a lot of several parts like cords that you may eventually need. I've bought a couple "phones of many colors" as I call them and they've come in handy many times and since they were already a "Frankenphone" I didn't feel too bad about parting it out. Try to pay half as much as a decent phone (or less) for parts phones and sometimes the shipping is just too much to make it feasible. Sometimes you can get several phones at one time. Just be sure to ask the seller to pack them well with the handset wrapped separately from the base. Always send packing instructions unless you know the seller is experienced in packing phones.

As for books, there are several good ones, but looking at this Forum's older posts is as good as any book, to me. We've covered lots of things in the last ten years. eBay is also an education. It shows you what's out there and looking at completed auctions will tell you what prices they're bringing.
Jonathan

Zombie Dave

Quote from: jsowers on March 15, 2018, 02:45:10 PM
A fingerwheel tool is very useful, but you can use a paper clip or a push pin--one of those with the plastic on the end. There are straight pins with little plastic ball tips on the end that work well too.

Your latest purchase goes really well with your background. Is that wallpaper? That background has the colors of five WE phones in it. Aqua blue, moss green, yellow, dark blue (some call it Mediterranean blue) and black. Dark blue is the same color as the phone in my avatar. So you have lots of choices for phones in that room. The aqua blue phone you got looks to be in great shape and from the early 1960s or maybe the late 50s. It has large feet and the open center fingerwheel.

Prices for parts phones vary widely and depend of which parts you need that it still has. The open center fingerwheels break easily and cords go missing or get cut, so those are probably the most used parts. Sometimes you can find just the part you need or a lot of several parts like cords that you may eventually need. I've bought a couple "phones of many colors" as I call them and they've come in handy many times and since they were already a "Frankenphone" I didn't feel too bad about parting it out. Try to pay half as much as a decent phone (or less) for parts phones and sometimes the shipping is just too much to make it feasible. Sometimes you can get several phones at one time. Just be sure to ask the seller to pack them well with the handset wrapped separately from the base. Always send packing instructions unless you know the seller is experienced in packing phones.

As for books, there are several good ones, but looking at this Forum's older posts is as good as any book, to me. We've covered lots of things in the last ten years. eBay is also an education. It shows you what's out there and looking at completed auctions will tell you what prices they're bringing.

I'm using a push pin but I'm unsure if I'm pushing too hard or not, so figure with the tool,  maybe that will be easier. 

That's actually a rough painting I painted Saturday.  I'm finding I'm attracted to the 50's and the Atomic age.  I'd really like to turn it into wallpaper. 

I'm eyeballing a 500 local with a chipped case on the underside of where the receiver goes ( thinking maybe they've slammed the receiver down a time or two ) for about $22.00. I'd save on shipping, but wasn't crazy the chip missing.

I've been reading some of the older forum posts and find it enjoyable.