Duck Phone Question

Andrew L.

Andrew L.

Well-known member
Hello All,

I know this question is out of left field but I thought there might be some antique experts here that could help me out.

The little lady acquired this phone me as more of a joke than anything from a garage sale but we have seen ones just like these be bid up to a few hundred dollars on Ebay and other sites. Having just connected my first landline for my home office I was able to plug the phone in today and test it. It operates as if it were brand new but the "quacking" ringtone sounds very similar to opening day in WI marshes, more of a farting noise than anything.

Anyone have a phone similar and is this how it is supposed to sound? After all this thing is old and I am unsure of the technology back then, perhaps it sounds just like it is supposed to.

If it is the speaker that is broken am I better off leaving it original or trying to find a replacement speaker for it to function correctly? Not sure of the value decrease if it contains some non-oringal parts.

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Hope everyone is staying high and dry.
 
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Andrew

You know how when you record your voice you sound different than what you hear when you talk...likely the phone sounds just like you do with a duck call. If I were keeping that thing out in sight, I'd be thinking repaint.

Chuck
 
A couple more zings I thought of after the fact...

Not sure of the value decrease if it contains some non-oringal parts.
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It's a duck-phone...not a vintage Corvette

and...

DuckPhone_zps750cdae0.jpg
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Did you have to insert the phone cord up the duck's butt or did it come already molested? Kind of reminds me of the conversation about flipping the dink on the mojo to "turn him on"...
 
"I thought there might be some experts here that could help me out.....
Not sure of the value decrease if it contains some non-original parts." .....Well, I would have to say that this fine bird is 100% authentic. Possibly one the old AT&T factory phones that were turned on a lathe. As you can see by the pictures below, it is highly likely that this bird has been repainted, as the carving on the bill is unmistakably the "Delawhere? River" style found in those wonderful old factory AT&T birds with the heavy Blair school influence. The paint job on the left is typical of an AT&T "premier" grade decoy , so it could be also be that yours is a "standard " grade AT&T.

View attachment duckphone.jpg View attachment DuckPhone_zps750cdae0.jpg However, if it was repainted that is unfortunate -- as the bird would be worth millions had it not been. Still, much nicer than those cheap plastic junk phones that one sees coming out of China. No need to thank any of us who have contributed our expertise to answer your question - that's what the vast knowledge of the forum is for.
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Did you have to insert the phone cord up the duck's butt or did it come already molested? Kind of reminds me of the conversation about flipping the dink on the mojo to "turn him on"...
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I'm sure he was gentle when inserting the butt plug.
 
Ahh yes. Thank you all for the mighty helpful insight, figured I get some flak for this.

And yes Chuck the cord is inserted in a fine area, although I didnt enjoy inserting the cords nearly as much as I enjoy setting my MOJO on its pole ;)
 
Andrew,

Sure, I know what happened!! You just had to pull this thing apart and mess with the reed!

The instructions said that it was factory tuned and NOT to pull it apart and "see how it works". Now the company is out of business and no one knows how to tune this thing.

Try a brass reed, with a new cork wedge. At least that what I did, when I pulled my Ken Martin Goose call apart, and it sounded like a Black Billed Tern, after "I fixed it"!!

Art
 
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