Wednesday 27 November 2013

Gfeller Trub Phone

"The King of Phones"

I first came across these beautiful phones a few years ago, I bought one because it's wooden..

What better reason?..and it's still in use

I thought that I would put on here, what I have learnt about these beautiful phones. In one place as a reference for myself and for others. I have owned and cleaned up three of them so far, and got to know quite a bit about them. You can read other info about them elsewhere, but on here I want to talk about the phones as we see them

From what I have seen there are three species of timber used for making these, Cherry, Maple and Rosewood..and if you look at the boxes of some you can see the Cherry version, I have yet to see any of the other phones on the box. The timber blank is CNC cut, the insides are really well done, with holes drilled out, then inserts fixed for screw threads, and the quality is great.

Click on picture to enlarge



The keys are pressed metal, Gold anodized, over the plastic buttons



The handset is from one blank piece, cut apart, each one hollowed out, then put back together using the same inserts as before, with brass screws, as seen. 



The cradle. The handset sits on two pieces of leather, that are recessed into the body of the phone. The center mounting piece is of plastic with a clear section in the middle for your telephone number to be written on the very small piece of card. The clear acrylic has to be removed to get to the card.



The hole by the bottom left hand rubber foot, houses the three way switch for the volume levels.
Notice the original stickers/ labels underneath.. the more stickers the better.
Please don't ever remove these, I'm making a note of the codes



If you get a really good one, the handset is made from the same style/type of grain.
The grain can vary a lot, The handset can match in grain and be similar to the body, but I've also seen wild grain with plain and straight grain

If you would like one of these phones, please contact me. I have a list of clients after them when they are available. 

Get on the waiting list...email me with your details

Note

One last point..

Please remember these phones come in different timbers, so the colour is different. They are 'Rosewood', Maple and Cherry. Some sellers don't know what they are selling and get the information cut and pasted off other websites..please be aware of this when buying online. The text will say one thing when the pictures tell the real story..  That's if they use their own photographs, and not 'stock photographs'... 

and yes I've had my fingers burn't..

All the best 

Jamie

Just found this other piece on another one of these beautiful phones. This guy loves his..have a read.
Another link to Trub Phone at Powerhouse museum.com

13 comments:

naldo said...

Hi Jamie,

Do you ever have any spare 'innards' for these phones? The green plastic bit which goes under the keypad and connects it to the circuit board needs replaced on mine. To make outgoing calls I can use a DTMF dialler on my mobile but it would be good to get it fully functional again.

That aside, there's a split in the wood from the right of the number 9, right down the side. I wonder if you've seen that on any of the ones you've had. Maybe I should glue it now to stop it getting worse...

Cheers, Donald

Jamie said...

Hi Donald,

I have only just found this comment, apologies for not replying sooner.

I don't have spares for these phones, they are getting more expensive to buy and even broken ones can sell for silly money. Which puts me off buying just for parts.

As far as the split goes, I've not seen one that has done that. Can I recommend that you get it glued back together by a restorer, just to make sure that it gets done properly and the finish can be 'blended in'.

Hope this has helped

All the best

Jamie

Anonymous said...

Hi Jamie,

I have one of these but sadly the 0 button is not working after a long loan to my ex. Would you happen to know anywhere I can get mine fixed?

Thanks James
jamesgrape@yahoo.co.uk

jane mottishaw said...

Hi Jamie
Thinking of selling mine would you be interested all working but has a small dent in the wood , did have the original box still searching the house for it
Thanks Jane
reviv@lineone.net

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I have just managed to buy one of these phones for £3! However there are a few buttons missing, any idea of where to get spares from?

browns11811@gmail.com said...

Hello everyone, i was just browsing and stumbled upon this page.
Drew me in when i noticed, my old childhood home telephone.
Ariana Moresi if you still have the phone available i would be happy to buy it from you. seeing this has brought back so many of my childhood memories. I live in the U.k.

Jamie said...

Hi 'Browns'
I'll email you.

Regards

Jamie

Anonymous said...

I have just come across this web page and I too have one of these phones in excellent condition and fitted for uk use I’ve had this phone 25 years and never really used it I just liked it for its looks .
If anyone want to see pictures or wants to buy this wooden telephone just email me on aguycalledjohn@aol.com I’m in Manchester uk 🇬🇧

Anonymous said...

Hey! aguycalledjohn! I sent you an email a few days ago regarding the phone. Is it still for sale please? Many thanks

Unknown said...

I found one of these Gfeller Trub telephones at a flea market in Switzerland a couple years ago. Aside from a chip on the cradle and some slight wear on the handset, this stunning phone is in beautiful condition. I'm not in the U.S. so have no way to test its functionality.

I believe this is the original 1970's manufacture though I learned that this was reproduced in the 1980s. Does anyone know how to tell the difference?

Also, I am open to offers on this if someone is interested. Email me at bs-temp@hotmail.com and I'll send photos.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
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Anonymous said...

Hi, I’ve had one of these beautiful phones for years. I love it and it works perfectly, I wonder Jamie if I can use it with an answering machine?
I bought a Southwestern Bell A1000 and don’t see how I can connect them to each other. It’s been so long since I had an answering machine, I’m sure you used to plug the phone into the AM and then the AM to the BT connection.have I boobed buying the AM or is there something I can buy to connect the two?
Many thanks for looking.
Penny