Did Western Electric 500 or 2500 phones ever come with 2-wire ringers?

[poplar1]

WE never made plastic frames. The 2-wire ringers (C4CI think they are coded C4B)  are found on the later 500s, 554s and 2500s made in the 1980s on the sets sold in retail stores. The sets are marked "1-PTY" and/or "CS500DM," "CS554BM" or "CS2500DMG."

You might also find a  multi-line 564, 565, 2564 or 2565 set with a H1B ringer. These ringers are similar to the C4s but they have only one gong. But you could use the coil since it has only two wires. (Some multi-line sets however have H1A ringers which have 4 wires.)

You could also just cut the slate and red-slate wires leaving one long enough to solder the other end to the tap on the coil.

[MaximRecoil]

WE never made plastic frames. The 2-wire ringers (I think they are coded C4B)  are found on the later 500s, 554s and 2500s made in the 1980s on the sets sold in retail stores. The sets are marked "1-PTY" and/or "CS500DM," "CS554BM" or "CS2500DMG."

You might also find a  multi-line 564, 565, 2564 or 2565 set with a H1B ringer. These ringers are similar to the C4s but they have only one gong. But you could use the coil since it has only two wires. (Some multi-line sets however have H1A ringers which have 4 wires.)

You could also just cut the slate and red-slate wires leaving one long enough to solder the other end to the tap on the coil.

Interesting; I never thought of doing that. Rather than cut any of the wires, I would just desolder both wires and set them aside, and solder in a new jumper wire between the two now-empty through-holes. That would make it completely reversible.

Edit: Done:





It works perfectly; looks clean/neat; and I don't have to wonder about the L1 terminal anymore.

By the way, if WE never made plastic-framed ringers, who made the plastic-framed ones like this one and this one?

[poplar1]

Cortelco (formerly ITT Kellogg). Possibly also Stromberg-Carlson or Premier.