Western Electric 301A Fiddleback

[Sargeguy]

I bought one of these off eBay, partly because I thought I had all the parts to complete it, but mostly because of the description, which mentioned a 7-digit transmitter. 

I won the auction for $128 (thank you Bill Me Later) and the phone arrived today.  Despite leaving work a little early when I received notice that it had been deposited on my porch, I was still pressed for time, and only had an hour or so before the family got home, so I did not take before pictures.

When I saw the box I said, "Huh, I thought fiddlebacks were larger?"  I opened it up and found that it was "some assembly required".  I quickly located the transmitter and confirmed that it was a 7-digit  . 



I looked at the rest of the phone and discovered to my horror/annoyance that the backboard had been sawn in half It was an old cut from what I could tell, but still   The writing shelf is also broken, with the lower half missing, but that is clear from the auction pics.  I am thrilled with the transmitter, which is worth more than the price I paid for the phone, so I may just have to suck it up. 

I broke down the rest of the phone and smeared it with Citri-Strip while i attacked the transmitter arm with Aircraft Remover.  The transmitter paint disintegrated rapidly, so I rinsed it and dried it in the over for a few minutes before hitting it with Krylon enamel, then baking it until my wife came home and found out what I was up to.  Later on I sanded down the phone and then used some Mirlon steel wool.  I shook it in a box of nails to give it some flea bites to make it look a little more realistic.



The transmitter was covered in black crud? old paint? That had to be scrubbed off with a 3M pad.  The early date transmitter cup is in excellent shape, but the transmitter face is missing large amounts of nickel.  The guts are intact, including the mica gasket.