Old telephone repair How to's?

Know where I can find some free online telephone repair info for old phones? When I search I only find people charging for the service. I've found info about a good book out there, but I can't find anyone who carries it. I found an old rotary phone at a garage sale (old bakelite kind) and have gotten it so I can hear sound, but I'd like to go the whole nine yards.

Any info appreciated!

I have been collecting rotary phones for about ten years.

The book you want is "Old-Time Telephones!: Technology, Restoration, and Repair" by Ralph O. Meyer. Amazon.com says it's out of print, but you can probably get it via interlibrary loan if your local library doesn't have it.

Thanks Cynful. good idea. I got an email from one of the places that no longer carries it and got this reply:

"Ralph's book is very informative about the styles and changes of the phones and I use his book almost daily. But for actual repair I would recommend the Steve Hilsz books."

Know abything about these books?

By the way, I grew up in the Sunset at Noriega and 36th. My old number, 566-5899 used to be Lombard 6-5899. I liked those name number combinations better.

On 2005-06-08 18:28, spy-tiki wrote:
"Ralph's book is very informative about the styles and changes of the phones and I use his book almost daily. But for actual repair I would recommend the Steve Hilsz books."

Know abything about these books?

Yeah! Check out his website:

http://www.navysalvage.com/

Phones are cool!!

I used to collect phones in my past life. I still have several candlesticks and a wall phone.

These can be made to work if I recall correctly you need what is known as a network to make it FCC approved. It will work without but the sound wont be good.

In a few years I have been told that the phone companies wont support dial phones. When this happens you will be able to answer but not dial out on it. Unless you do major surgery and put buttons on the dial destroying the orginality.

This company in particular

http://www.phonecoinc.com/

has been around a long time and she used to be free with the advice.

Dave

Nice repair site, I can't tell you how many Ericophones I find in the wild only to discover that the bird sounding ringer isn't working, rotary phones are more fun anyway

On 2005-06-18 21:25, gonzo wrote:
This company in particular

http://www.phonecoinc.com/

has been around a long time and she used to be free with the advice.

Their prices are steep! You can find many of those phones in the wild or on eBay for a LOT less.

I like this one:

It's a speakerphone that hangs on the wall like a poster! (12" x 20")

[ Edited by: cynfulcynner on 2005-06-19 23:57 ]

It seems all phones advertised on websites are way high.

I never bought a phone from her just parts (cords, mouthpeices, networks etc)