todays flea market buy

[bwanna]

i wasn't able to go to the local flea market today. but my friend went. she called from there to tell me about an old looking  phone for 25$. she was so happy that she had spotted a phone. she had never seen one like it & thot it was the coolest thing. so i had her go ahead& buy it for me.

i don't know anything about north electric. this one appears to be dated 1942. it looks in pretty good shape. the rubber is broken on the one of the cords where it goes into the base. i should be able to cut it back a little& reconnect.

i have been buying WE's for a while now, but only recently gotten into really learning about them& working on them. so far have pretty much stuck to 500s 300s& princess sets.

it's the paint that has me wondering. i have a WE typeD (i think, round base) that is painted yellow. now this NE painted white.  is this factory paint?  how do i fix the paint?

any education you pros can give me will be appreciated. i will also do some web research.

[Jester]

bwanna,

What you have is a NORTHERN Electric Uniphone desk set.  These were made by the Canadian subsidiary of Western Electric for Independent phone companies in Canada.  The handset appears to be from a Stromberg Carlson 1243.  The nice thing (for you) is it is electrically the same as the WE 302.  The paint is not factory, but should not be too hard to remove from bakelite.  You can refer to the thread I started on the Uniphones by following this link:http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=1075.0

Hope this helps,
Stephen

[bwanna]

tyvm, stephen, for clarifying north electric vs northern electric. the paint is kind of heavy on the back, but in the right light i now see it says northern electric, made in canada. i found a pic of a s/c handset, & i believe you are right about that.

so with the wrong handset & missing the dial ring, maybe i didn't make such a good buy.  since my friend was so excited about it, i thot i would fix it up& give it back to her. but she tells me that they are going to disconnect their dialtone & use only cell    maybe i can convince her not too, if i get this phone looking good soon.

thanks again
donna

[HobieSport]

In my humble newbie opinion I think it's still a good deal, Donna, even with the Stromberg Carlson handset. I just took these three pictures of a Stromberg Carlson 1243 phone with it's handset (the same model handset as yours, I think) with a Northern Electric Uniphone. My Uniphone is the wall model, but I think it's the proper Uniphone handset for the desk model like yours.

As you can see the handsets are somewhat similar, at least in size. They even feel similar. So an SC 1243 handset on a Northern Electric Uniphone doesn't seem terribly out of place to me.

What I don't entirely get is that the paint color on your handset and phone seem to match. So I'm wondering if it's original factory paint, or if it was factory refurbished and painted with the SC handset, or if the colors just matched. I'm too much of a newbie to guess about that.


As for your friend getting rid of her landline and going cell phone only, all I can say is "Oh the Horror". One thing your friend might want to consider is sometimes the cell phone might not work for whatever reason, and the old phone on a regular land line should work even in an electrical blackout.

Anyway, congratulations on your good phone deal.

[bwanna]

tyvm, hobiesport, for the thumbs up.  i was feeling like i had made a really big faux pas. i heard from another collector, who says the fingerwheel being painted is a sign of a backyard job. i read on paul f's website, that uniphones were mainly distributed to independant providers. since it looks like that handset has been on the phone for while, i was wondering if it was a field repair by a small indie co that used parts from more than one manufacturer? isn't speculating on the history 1/2 the fun of collecting old things.

anyway, for 25bucks, i made my friend feel good, got an education on uniphones, an opportunity to learn how to remove paint from bakelite& still left with a cool looking piece!

dial tone makes my paycheck. believe me, i have the "pros of keeping a landline" speech down pat

thank you for posting the pics of your phones. you have a couple of handsome pieces.

[HobieSport]

Yep, the painted dial also makes me suspicious of a backyard paint job, in which case, yes, I would remove the paint back to the original black plastic and/or bakelite.

I'm a big fan of black phones (ask anyone on the forum ) and have only a few colored ones. I joke that "black is a color, too", but it's true. A colored phone just doesn't seem to reflect the light and colors around it as beautifully as a well polished black phone, at least to my eye. The only other color that seems to do that as well or better is the neutral gray WE 500s.

And the paint on your "Northern Electric Uniphone/Stromberg Carlson Hybrid" (how's that for an interesting name?) doesn't seem to reflect much at all. I suspect you may be pleasantly surprised after removing the paint and polishing it up, and it will look pretty classy for a $25 phone!

[BDM]

Hmmm, someone has a nice little Stromy collection

[McHeath]

I think you got a good deal for 25 dollars on your uniphone, they are a unique style.  I'd probably strip the white paint off myself, but that's me as.  As for ditching landlines, we keep ours for the alarm system and because it always works, unlike our cells which sometimes drop service, especially by the sink in the kitchen. 

[bwanna]

thx, mcheath, for another vote of confidence. this was my first purchase outside the WE line(other than my 3$ GTE design line set). so i have gained some good knowledge.

i will give a go on the paint stripping, any suggestions

i am a wireline repair tech. i have given many a speech against dropping landline service. other than maintaining good union jobs, my 2key personal reasons for keeping dial tone are: 1)for all my rotary dial phones   2)in the event of emergency, especially at night, i don't want to be fumbling around trying to remember where i left the cell phone.  i have my pretty boudoir phone right there on the nightstand.    

THANK YOU to everyone who supports wireline service

[HobieSport]

i will give a go on the paint stripping, any suggestions

i am a wireline repair tech. i have given many a speech against dropping landline service. other than maintaining good union jobs, my 2key personal reasons for keeping dial tone are: 1)for all my rotary dial phones  2)in the event of emergency, especially at night, i don't want to be fumbling around trying to remember where i left the cell phone.

THANK YOU to everyone who supports wireline service

I haven't stripped any paint on a phone yet but several folks on the forum have. Dan/Panther and BDM among others, and it has been discussed here and there on the forum in snippets. I can only humbly suggest that you start a new thread called "How do I strip the paint from my phone?" or something like that.

So you are a wireline repair tech? Cool! Why didn't you say so sooner?
I guess it must be a bit tricky giving speeches on why we should keep our landlines if the listeners may just think you're protecting your job and the union. But we know better. It would actually be great fun to read about reasons for keeping landlines if you'd like to post them or give any links to places where we can read them.

I can tell you my own reasons for landlines as a mere "end user". For starters, cell reception simply doesn't work at my house, and the small semi-rural local township here oddly voted down further cell coverage. They think a cell tower will rot our children's brains or something...   But this might be a rather rare situation that I live in.

But even if we had cell coverage, I want my landline because I love the clarity of direct copper, and our internet connection is very inexpensive and certainly fast enough on our regular phone lines also. When I phone my stepson and he's on his cellphone, even when he's at home in the middle of a large modern city, I can still barely make out a word that he's saying, and my hearing is good.  Don't get me wrong, I think cell phones are great and I have nothing against the technology. Heck, I'd let the cellphone companies put a tower on my property for that matter, tho' the neighbors would probably come at me with torches and pitchforks.

And also I like landlines just for the reliability. Especially during the occasional blackout. And I can't tell you how many times I've been on my regular remote phone in the middle of a good conversation with a friend or relative when the darn battery starts dying so I reach for my regular phone.  So basically I think cellphones and ethernets and all them thar newfangled contraptions are great, but they can take my landline over my dead body. But I'd just rather they wouldn't. End of rant.

By the way, do you know how copper wire was invented? Two Scots were fighting over a penny. (Hee hee. I'm of Scotch-Irish decent.)

I found a picture of a black Northern Electric Uniphone to show you what my lie under you white Uniphone. This one has the regular Uniphone handset, but as said, your Stromberg Carlson handset I think would look just fine also IMHO.

Cheers, -Hobie

[foots]

Those are some nice Uniphones, I especially like the wall version. Bwanna, that's definately a nice buy for $25. Those Stromberg Carlson handsets are quite stylish.
I would never rely on just a cell phone or other wireless system, they're nice, but its comforting to know that my land line is always there - long live the land lines!

[Dan]

Great buy, considereing @ vacation I saw the same phone (black) for $75 at two different places

[bwanna]

jester/stephen
i owe you an apology, i attributed my knowing NE was distributer to canadian indie telcos to paul-f. but as i re-read this thread i see you had posted that info. 

dan
welcome back from vacation. thanks for weighing in w/an affirmitive vote for my UNI-STROM HYBRID