The title of this post is lie number one of a litany of lies to be found on the Internet.
You are NOT going to learn how to rewire a vintage phone. You are not.
I know this from experience. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself as I am want to do when I'm in fits.
I have a number of oddities hidden in my basement. For instance there's this. And these.
Amongst the stuff is a collection of antique/vintage telephones. Some work. Some don't. You may wonder why I care whether or not a relic of a phone with an actual dial on it works or not. I like them. I like old phones. I like old things. And I particularly like old thing that can still be used. There's a certain nostalgia and sentimentality about using a big old handset. Plus if you're on it you can tell people you can't talk any longer 'cause you're stuck to the wall and you need to get things done. That excuse doesn't work if you're talking on a portable phone.
There's one in particular I've been wanting to get up and running for a long time.
This phone was in my grandmother's house in Renfrew, Ontario. It's not only in perfect condition, it's one of a couple of phones in my basement that have been part of my family for generations.
So some time before Christmas I decided to look up how to rewire some of my old phones with their vintage 3 wires ...
... to a modern phone line. One would think it's just a matter of attaching red to red, green to green and so on. But it's not. Sometimes this connection will get the phone to work to make and receive calls, but the ringer won't work. Or it'll make calls but can't receive them. Or vice versa. It's a messy business this phone wiring thing. They're like Fiats. Or Lindsay Lohan's brain. Nobody really knows how the wiring works.
I looked up a few tutorials on-line and a few videos on YouTube and one video seemed to have great potential. All you have to do is attach red to red, combine the green and yellow from the phone and attach them to the green of the phone jack line.
I'm not sure why I was shocked when it didn't work but it was the Opening a Wine bottle with a Tree Trunk all over again.
Around 3 hours into it I realized, this probably wasn't gonna work out for you folks. I would NOT be doing a post on how to make your vintage telephone ring.
Would you like to save this stuff?
We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.
But I wasn't giving up on mine. You see, I have that gene in me. That little slice of DNA that won't allow me to stop. I can't give up. I will get so angry and frustrated at points that I need to eat potato chips just to calm down.
Because of the Great and Stupid Paleo experiment, we don't have any potato chips.
So I got more angry and more frustrated and decided to work through it by eating a block of cheese. Which isn't very good alone in large portions so I also had some crackers. I'm O.K. with that.
You know why? That little respite from the stupid Paleo plan was enough to get me to settle down and figure it out.
I had another old wall phone downstairs that was wired properly so I dragged that upstairs and compared the guts. They were similar. Similar enough that I could figure out how to hard wire the new phone jack line into the old phone. It made calls and received them. No ring.
So I made some uneducated guesses moving wires and changing things and finally ... it rang.
The phone now holds court in the living room.
If I'd had a bag of potato chips around instead of just cheese and crackers I'm fairly certain I would have been able to resolve any and all conflicts in the Middle East.
And because you were kind of screwed out of any learning anything at all in this post, I have made for you this little video proving that my phone does indeed ring and work.
Vintage Phone ring
Proof of vintage phone working.
Yet another reason to love the olden day phones. No Skype.
Jimmy
I have the same issues with the same 1947 302 phone from my Grandmother. NO RINGING!!! I have a dial tone and I can make calls and receive calls, no ringing. Can you (if possible) show how you wired the phone? I have a picture of what I have so far.
Sonyah
Brilliant lol. I loved reading this. I wish I was confident enough to try mine. Good job you did on yours. Lived hearing it ring.
Karen
Give it a shot! ~ karen
evelyn
what an awesome post and video, I have the same phone and you've given me hope, now if i can just find someone to help me that doesn't stare blankly at my phone and asks "what is it?" how did you make the phone so pretty and shiney?🙏🏼🤗
Karen
Hi Evelyn! That's just the finish it has, I didn't do anything fancy to shine it up. :) Good luck getting yours working! ~ karen
Larry Hartman
I came across a real find @ a craft show (of all places), a Automatic Electric model 35 in perfect condition for $75 . It has a model 50's case, long story though. The only small problem is the 4 wire line cord is missing. My question is what do though's (gr, red, blk,yel) wires connect inside the phone??
Thanks
Larry Hartman
Kevin Guidroz
Great post!
I have a similar phone that I used for years, even though the
ringer did not work (I heard other phones ringing in my home).
Did you leave the thick red wire unattached?
Thank you,
Kevin
Karen
Hi Kevin! Each phone is different so honestly the best thing to do with them is through trial and error. ~ karen!
Kevin Guidroz
Thanks for the reply. I will get a block of cheese and tackle this when other pieces I ordered arrive.
Kind Regards,
Kevin
Kevin Guidroz
It rings! Thanks for your reply, I know you posted this a few years ago. Once I actually read the schematic pasted inside the phone, I changed it from 'party' line to 'bridged'.
Best Regards,
Kevin
Karen
Excellent! That's exciting. If you're lucky there will be a way to turn the ringing volume down. If not, stuff some cotton in it. Those old phones were LOUD.😆~ karen!
JANICE ELAINE QUANDT
box phone, it has a 4 prong wall plug
this is why i am reading your how to.
i have an old box of junk, keep it stuff for just in case!!
i had one back in the 70's. the phone man when we moved made a special trip to the house to get IT.
thanks for information, i signed up for email.. bye for now.
Karen
Good luck with the phone Janice! And welcome. ~ karen!
Bill
We have the same phone! Ours had a 49 istead of 47 on the coil by your wiring. I'm assuming those are the years of manufacture. I have a couple of questions. What is your black wire connected to? I can't tell by the picture. Also, of course the colors of the wires in the our replecement cord are different than yours. So, would you mind telling me the order of the colors at the plug end in your cord? And just maybe the title of your post won't be a lie after all.
Dayna
Oh my gosh, we would be best friends! Enjoyed reading your post, felt that sweet success, so nice!
Karen
Thanks Dayna! It was pretty satisfying. ~ karen!
Rodd Bench
I moved into this house 6 years ago with it's '60s wall phone, yellow to match the kitchen appliances installed 1972. Talked to modern Internet phone techs who were clueless how to convert between pulse and tone dialing. My phone line here on the Oregon Coast does not support pulse dialing, so I need some kind of a conversion unit to interface at this end - I speculate!! Is there a simple and direct solution? I like your picture of wiring the '30s phone. Any advice before I begin?
Neil Glenn
I wonder how many of today's teens know how to DIAL a rotary phone? Push-buttons, yeah, but ROTATING dialing? Far out! (OK, dating myself!)
Chad Cranfill
I guess your phone line must still support pulse dialing. I'm glad to hear you got it to work!
Denis
Hello Karen. I like your sense of humor. I laughed well. About 3 years ago I bought the same model phone on the internet with the intention of making it work ..... like life is what it is and I ran out of time to restart it. Today, pandemic obliges I have time to do it and that's how I found your web page. I have a little problem finding a solution but this time it will work ... plus I don't speak much English but that's okay