Originally posted by justbill:
What phone and what's the problem. Did you try to google antique phone repair? Or just antique phones?
This isn't exactly an antique, I think that's what makes it difficult... But I did just find the singingwires group, and that might be helpful.
The problem I'm having is with one of the Design Line character phones which seems to use many of the components from the 2555B (35AH3D dial, 4228 network, P3A ringer, polarity guard) but I believe the hook switch is different - it has 8 wires. Although it doesn't show any obvious signs that it has been tampered with, the network was wired unlike anything I've seen in the schematics for other WE phones using these components, and it didn't work as expected when I got it.
The dialtone was barely audible, mic didn't seem to be working, and the dial produced loud, but off-key tones and it wouldn't dial out. The ringer worked normally. After finding the schematics on the Bell System Memorial page, I've managed to improve the situation a bit, but the dial now acts like there is a polarity issue (the keys mute the dial tone slightly, but do not produce any tones, I've tried swapping ring & tip with no effect.) I'm also lacking a schematic on how the polarity guard was originally wired.
On the plus side, I can at least answer incoming calls now. I can post a before and after rundown of the wiring layout if anyone is interested.
Many thanks