WE 302 best method for acquiring

[Charles]

I am interested in acquiring a Western Electric 302 phone and I have several questions:

1) Are the 302's offered by Old Phone Works any good (are they mixing and matching Canadian and American parts , etc)?

2) Is it better to get one off of ebay to restore (I have restored some WE 500 phones)?

3) Are there any other reputable sellers for restored 302s?

4) In general, what is the transmitter and receiver quality like on the 302?
Is it similar to the 500 (I have seen upgrades to the T1 transmitter for the 302 and was wondering whether the older 302 transmitters are not that good)?

Thanks

Charles

[rdelius]

I have had fewer problems with the transmitter in the 302 sets than 500 sets.302 sets are very good as is if in good condition.WE and NE parts are almost identical

[BDM]

Hi Charles.

Questions::
1 - Why not call them and ask? I know some of these dealers may build one to your liking.

2 - That's totally up to you and your confidence in restoring a set. Plenty of info on this site and the right people to ask in making the correct choice on a particular phone you may be interested in.

3 - Again ask in the WTB section and look at the dealer section. Someone besides a dealer my offer up a restored 302.

4 - Similar but not exactly the same. For myself I'm using VoiP service so it makes little to no difference I can tell (my central office is next to my computer). It would make a difference for someone using original original telephone service using two wire. It would then depend on your location from the central office. Fairly rare thing to encounter today as it is.

[twocvbloke]

I would go for option 2, but then I'm the sort who enjoys taking things apart and making them work...

Restoring your own has a lot more satisfaction to it when you sit it on your desk and think "I made that work again" compared to something bought pre-restored (and often at a rather high price), it does depend on how far you go with restoring though, from a clean up, repair and quick "make it work" re-wire, to a full-on strip down and make it look like new restoration, but either way, doing it yourself really does have a much different feeling to buying something that someone else has done, as you have put your mark on it...

[Doug Rose]

Charles...there are reputable sellers of 302s here on the forum. Are you looking for specific dates, like your birthday or close to it. Any reputable seller will sell you a working phone and guarantee you it will work as long as your service has rotary dial available. 302s are such cool phones. Put an add in the classified of the Forum on what you are looking for. ....Doug

[Greg G.]

I am interested in acquiring a Western Electric 302 phone and I have several questions:

2) Is it better to get one off of ebay to restore (I have restored some WE 500 phones)?

I wouldn't say it's "better", just one of the sources available.  There are lots of bargains to be had if you look hard enough and often enough.  However, I personally don't like having phones shipped, from ebay or anywhere else.  I don't trust (non-collector) sellers to pack them properly and I don't like the sky-high shipping costs.  Although I have had a few phones shipped w/o any problems, the last one arrived as junk even after speaking to the shipper directly regarding packing. 

I've found the vast majority of my phones on CL within driving distance.  I used to spend hours at a time on CL using different search terms. 

3) Are there any other reputable sellers for restored 302s?

I would say most other collectors are a good source for a good 302.  If your budget is good, you can find a really nice one fully restored.  I would recommend joining one or both of the collector's club (TCI or ATCA) and look around in the classifieds or like Doug said put a wanted post here or on one of the collector clubs websites or newsletters.

4) In general, what is the transmitter and receiver quality like on the 302?

In general, I've never had a problem with any of the 302s I have, they work fine as found.  I use a 302 as a daily driver that I haven't done anything to it other than polish it a bit.

[persido]

Yes eBay is great and I have bought several phones and parts  off eBay, but I prefer hunting down phones the old fashion way, stores, flea markets, yard sales, I like to be able to pick it up, look for cracks or any other damage and try to talk the price down. But then again you also can score on eBay, and just hope it gets to you unharmed.

Scot

[twocvbloke]

Yeah, buying anything on ebay (not just phones) can be quite risky, a recent failed purchase of mine was a computer hard drive (advertised as a laptop hard drive, though I received a desktop hard drive), the seller decided that as they offered "free postage", they'd reduce the packaging to a padded envelope with a couple of old and well-popped sheets of bubblewrap, the drive arrived damaged and unusable, and the seller accused me of attempting to defraud them, even thought I sent them a video of the faulty drive, with serial numbers visible, and showed where the drive had hit the deck, again with serial numbers, and that they had previously sold the same HDD, with the same serial number, and yet they still accused me of fraud...

Still, I got ebay involved, which rattled them, I provided detailed evidence that the seller was in the wrong, and got my money back, and as per the sellers request I destroyed the HDD (though frankly, they destroyed it with their bad packaging) with an axe, but they still ended their last message accusing me of planning to sell the thing fraudulently, if that was a court case, they'd have been found guilty of fraud themselves...

[Charles]

All,

thanks for the responses. I think that I will order a restored 302 (metal cased) from Old Phone works .

Any recommendations on cloth or curled rubber handset cords?
I have read somewhere on this forum that the cloth corded phones are harder to use.

Thanks

Charles

[BDM]

Sure, since they do not retract into a sorter position they tend to snag things easier (corner of a table, etc). Plus if you over extend beyond the length while talking, that nice H mount will hit the floor fast! I tend to prefer the thick coil handset cords for an every-day used phone. Just my personal preference. No right or wrong here.

[HarrySmith]

I would have to agree on the coiled cord. I am selling a 302 right now and I finally convinced the buyer to let me put a coiled cord on it. I had installed the brown cloth cords on it because the pictures of 302's he found on the net when we were trying to determine what phone he wanted all had brown cloth cords. It took me a week to convi ce him he would be much happier this way!
While the phones from OPW are very nice, other than not being 100% original, you could probably save quite a bit of money buying one from a member here. The shipping from Canada can get quite expensive. There may even be someone local to you so no shipping would be required!
Just my thoughts, your mileage may vary.

[Charles]

Harry,

can you elaborate on the not 100% original?
I realize that they are probably using pieces parts from several phones to get a working phone but is there anything else I should be aware of?

Thanks

Charles

[Phonesrfun]

Old phoneworks is a good company.  They charge retail prices for what they sell, but they are still in business!  Shipping from Canada takes a few days longer than something coming from the states.

Their showcase phones on their web page have been repainted, and they will likely be fitted with their own reproduction cords, which are good quality.

The parts, the guts, the insides, handset and shells are all going to be original parts, but like you say may have been mixed and matched.  As to your original question about Canadian parts, Northern Electric was partially owned by the Bell System for eons.  The Canadian parts made by Northern Electric are of the highest manufacturing quality, and often indistinguishable from W.E. If there were differences, they are subtle.  For the outer parts, the only difference is the embossed name of Northern Electric versus Western Electric.

Their version of a handset with chrome bands, I believe is their own concoction.  It dresses up the phone and makes it look like an art-deco era AE handset, but I don't believe WE or NE ever did chrome bands, or if they did it would have been on some commemorative special deal.

OPW has a toll free number, and Mike would probably be able to give you more info.

[Greg G.]

All,

thanks for the responses. I think that I will order a restored 302 (metal cased) from Old Phone works .

Any recommendations on cloth or curled rubber handset cords?
I have read somewhere on this forum that the cloth corded phones are harder to use.

Thanks

Charles

That's really a matter of individual taste.  I personally prefer a straight rubber cord on 302s because it gives it a more vintage look. 

[HarrySmith]

Thanks for the clarification Bill. I obviously did not word my post correctly. I was not trying to put OPW down in any way. They are a good bunch of people, I have and will continue to buy from them. Charles, you got my meaning right, the phone will most likely have parts from different years on it but they will all be quality original parts wether WE or NE. The banded handsets are the exception, I have been told  in the past by long time phone guys WE did not make banded handsets.
My apology to you & to OPW!!