I would like your input.

[Jester]

The light beige 5302 I won on ebay arrived today!  Because of observations made in the thread I posted in the auction section of the forum, my attention turned more to the "line cord" than the phone during my initial inspection.  As I pointed out in the other thread, the 4 conductors that terminate inside the phone were intact, so my curiosity was focused on the four prong plug & what the wires looked like inside.  As I suspected, the 2 white conductors were cut off, so I will have to remove the crimp & sleeve & about 4 to 6 inches of outer housing to repair this cord.  The real "problem" is the length of this cord--it is marked as being 13'!  My question: do I just remove enough material to make the cord work as a handset cord, or can I justify cutting it to a reasonable (standard) length?  I also need a line cord for the phone I am using it on, and can easily make one out of the remnants.  Please share your candid opinions with me.  This is definitely a straight, dark beige handset cord and is rare, no matter what I do to it!

[Phonesrfun]

Interesting dilema.

If it were me, I'd go get a regular beige line cord, which are readily available, and toss the long handset cord aside and see if anything comes up.  If you replace the line cord with a regular length beige line cord, you don't need to be in any hurry to do anything with the long handset cord.

A 13 foot straight handset cord is going to be tough to sell on e-Bay, so if you don't have a need for it, and you cannot find a buyer, you could potentially make two beige straight handset cords from it if you had another handset-end sleeve and the restraints.

If you do decide to go the route of making two regular straight handset cords from the long one, a straight handset cord would probably go well on the 5302, and actually be authentic.

[bingster]

My personal opinion is that this color handset cord is rare in any length, but 13 FEET?? That's got to be one astoundingly rare cord.  For that reason alone, I'd remove only what's necessary to correct the damage, and leave it intact.  Of course, that doesn't make the phone terribly useable with all that cord, so you'd need to hunt down a suitable straight or coiled replacement.  But if it's just for display, I wouldn't alter it.  But that's one man's opinion.

[Greg G.]

I vote for leaving it as is and getting a standard one.  Even standard length vintage cords are hard to come by as it is.   

[Dennis Markham]

Stephen, that is an interesting cord.  Thirteen feet is even long for a mounting cord!  But I'm in the "leave it as it is" camp.  Are the white wires snipped down flush with the end of the cord?  I guess if you have to move it back at all, going back 6 inches isn't bad when you have that length of cord.  I was thinking you could extend the cut white wires with some other wire to go up into the handset cavity.  If you were going to install it on your Rose Beige phone, just for display you could coil the length in to a reasonable sized loop, fasten it with a couple of twist ties and just let it sit next to the phone.  It makes a good story.  Or you could just size it to the standard length cord, moving the strain relief hook and lopping off the rest.  The chances of finding another handset cord sleeve in that color seem slim.  Since the original strain relief is marked at 13 feet, I may be inclined to leave it as it.  What other designation is on that strain relief?  Does it read H13xx?

I wonder if the cord was initially made for a 554?  I know some black 554's had straight black handset cords but do not know if by the time the color phones came out if they were still putting straight cords on the phone.  If it were a 554 and someone was going to use it in a business they may have wanted a long cord.  Just a guess.

But to me, the fact that it's marked 13 means that's how it came off the line and I'd try and keep it that way.

[McHeath]

Wow 13 feet long!  I'd probably strip it back just enough to fix the damage and then use it as a goofy 12 and a half foot long straight handset cord.  It certainly is unique, which is why I'd not cut it into two little cords. 

It also makes a good case for why they went to coiled cords when you want length. 

[Dan]

Keep it original. I agree with the others.

[jsowers]

I vote for "keep it original" too. It doesn't actually go on the light beige 5302. Someone just used it there, I am thinking. Straight, colored handset cords date to mid-1956. Those color straight cords were only made for a short time (except for ivory, brown and dark gray, which were there from the inception of color 500s in 1953-54). So gradually, by Spring, 1956, all the colors of handset and mounting cords began to match except for dark blue and moss green. That's when these straight cords were first manufactured. But soon coil cords became standard, sometime in 1957, and those straight cords were likely discontinued. That's also about the same time when moss green started to match.

At least that's my theory from what I've observed. I wish we had it somewhere in a history book, but all I have to go on are the original phones themselves and their dates. I have two of these "color straight line" phones in my collection and I've seen a few (very few) others. They all seem to date to mid-1956.

For that cord to be 13' is even rarer yet. For all we know, the installer did that to the cord when the phone was installed.

[Jester]

Thank you for your advise, gentlemen.  After reading your opinions & looking more carefully at the cut ends of the white conductors, I think I have a solution that will both extend the wires and avoid having to cut the cord back!   I'll post some more pics when I'm done.

[Dan/Panther]

I'd agree leave it alone.
D/P