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upgrading models

Started by Babybearjs, April 27, 2016, 09:52:40 PM

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Babybearjs

I bought a WE 440EG online and upgraded it to a 444EG, but keeping the original base to the phone showing the original model number.... I remarked the phone showing the upgrade date.... does this hurt the value of the phone, or am I just doing what WE always did with extra parts when a certain model was being called for?
John

WEBellSystemChristian

To a true purist, it may, but I personally think it's pretty cool to remark it. Long after everyone else here is gone, someone in a hundred years will pick up that phone and know when it was upgraded, even after Bell had been gone for 30 years or more!
Christian Petterson

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

poplar1

#2
Marking phones to identify modifications or conversions is certainly consistent with Bell System Practices, whether it was done in the field or in the WE Repair Shops.

When 61-type filters were installed, a drop of vermilion ink was applied on the outside of the phone.

The + symbol added to 565HD ("565HD+") at the Service Center indicated that the ringer leads were connected to RT and RR (for common audible ringing) rather than to 1T and 1R (as a line ringer on the first line). (Section 502-525-405, Issue 2 3, March, 1962: Key Telephone Sets, 565HDR, Common Battery -- Connections).

"CONV" was sometimes marked on the bottom of a set to indicate a CONVERSION from one model to another. Other times, only the new model number was indicated ("5302G-GF"). Also, remanufacture dates on 500s, for example, typically replace the original manufacture dates on the bottom of the phone.

When enountering a bad pair in a 25-pair cable, we often had to find a vacant pair and move the affected circuit to the new pair inside the set and to the corresponding pair in the equipment room. I always marked the bottom of the set to indicate the changed pair so that anyone changing out the set later would know about the changed cable pair, or any other modification made to the set.

Obie Howell told me that on WE 10- and 20- button keysets (830/2830 and 831/2831) troubles, if there were any unassigned keys, he would unplug and swap places of the plugs on the back of the keystrip, and move the cross-connect in the equipment room. That was transparent to the user since the line to be picked up appeared in its usual place on the keyset.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.