Antique Earphones [Restoration]

I restore these ~100 year old earphones so that they work with modern equipment. These earphones are most likely around 100 years old as the patents were filed in 1923. This restoration was on a pair of C. Brandes Inc. earphones. You can have a look at the original product catalog from 1916 here: www.sowp.org/wp-content/uploa...
These sold for around the equivalent of $150USD in 2019 and all patents can be found under Dietrich Frederick.
I was really excited to see if I could get these headphones working again. This was my first attempt at vintage electronics, so I tried to stay away from the more sensitive electrical components. Ideally I would have liked to have the coils all rewound, but the wires are 0.002" and that stresses me out. I need to work my way up to that.
I decided to make only one modification and that was to remove the nickel-plating off the solid brass components. Nickel-plating was fancy back then, but now brass is fancy! Soap and water went a long way with cleaning up the headband. Sanding and polishing worked really well for the earphone covers.
I was so glad I was able to hook these up to a modern headphone jack and listen to that sweet sweet sound of all metal speakers.
Wrenches are now for sale at www.handtoolrescue.com
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[@BrandonDKirkwood]

“Garbage on the floor” really deserves its own spinoff show

[@benmoran6198]

@webnothing ooooft

[@user-xu1zd6qc2t]

A lot of trash

[@recombant]

Extremely Flammable Worktable should really get some credit. He carries the show.

[@MrJunk78]

Has anyone checked on Evapo-Rust? He didn't even show up for rehearsals. Holding out for his own spin off? Drinking problem finally got the best of him?

[@tomtruesdale6901]

I think the work bench has been listed on the EPA's Super Fund Site list. ;-)

[@HandToolRescue]

I think the bench is now more solvent than wood.

[@tomtruesdale6901]

@@HandToolRescue You know it will never rust or rot

[@jonathangrenier104]

man, ever since torn out sweatshirt was cast-off this show has been going nowhere near new things! #bring_back_torn_sweater!

[@milesprower6641]

These are high impedance (~2000 Ohm) headphones for use with Crystal Radios. Modern headphones are about 16ohm.

[@dandruff7807]

Possibly 600 or 2000 ohm headset. Modern headphones are either 16 or 32 ohm for today's electronics.

[@Roberta0X]

A little headphone amp like the one he shows will drive them okay, though.

[@AsymptoteInverse]

I was wondering what these would've been used with.

[@1ABL.]

“Modern headphones are about 16 ohm”. Laughs in DT990 600ohm

[@daveys]

I have a more recent ones that I recall have an impedance of 4000 Ohms, bought them for when I was making a crystal radio…well, strictly speaking it was a varicap diode radio, but generally same concept.

[@stoojinator]

ProTip: When soldering, the solder should be introduced to the material being soldered, not the iron.

[@bruwin]

Also, don't be afraid to add extra flux, as the flux in the solder burns off pretty quickly.

[@Milan_M95]

Also, if you need 40 sec to solder something, you probably need more temperature/larger tip

[@iamsmok]

Also, crimped connectors are not supposed to be soldered. It just increases the chance of wire breaking near the crimp.

[@murmaider2]

@@Milan_M95 no he needs a temp controlled iron with a larger thermal capacity. These pen irons are awful. Higher temp =/= thermal capacity.

[@robdawg1017]

I’m sad that *_Evapo-Rust Super Safe Rust Remover_* doesn’t get a cameo in that amazing intro... :(

[@rafaelfigueroa4324]

:v omg!

[@pietrotacconelli8311]

Is he still sponsored by them I wonder?

[@stuff9964]

F

[@mickymaninthehouse]

Dude, I can't get enough of that wonderful intro hahaha

[@avanoire]

That Intro is the the best on KZbin😅😂

[@CraigH999]

Was thinking exactly the same thing! Hilarious!

[@bryanotero123]

I fucking love that intro

[@Michigan-Tactical]

I agree with you Mickyman

[@benmoran6198]

No fancy lighting but still hot

[@HenRefurb]

Excellent work on these. The best soldering hack for you if you don't know is to tin (solder) the wires and terminals before you join them. That way the process happens a lot quicker and easier and you get a smooth clean joint.

[@curm1778]

with some flux. flux makes it all better

[@raynoldred1]

@@curm1778 it seems that he also hates soldering just like nickel plating

[@davekimball3610]

Thankfully you put them on your head at the end. Because of the banana's terrible performance this episode, I had no idea how large or small these headphones were till the very end!

[@horacegentleman3296]

Nice to see Tiny Anvil even if it was an uncredited cameo.

[@cojones8518]

14:50 No you need to stop trying to heat the mass of that anvil, it's sucking all the heat out of the part. If anything you need a bigger/higher wattage iron. The bigger the part, the bigger the iron. A iron shouldn't take more than a couple seconds to heat up the joint. It's like you're trying to oxy-ace braze with a propane torch. I'd tin the speaker coil wire first, then tin the post using a large 60W+ iron with a pair of helping hands away from the plate assembly. Then reflow and stick the coil wire to the plate, then install the post in the hole.

[@mothman.industries]

All of this. The soldering shots were all painful to watch. You need more power and a bit more patience. The part should melt the solder, not the iron. You'll find that it's much easier to get a good joint when you stop approaching solder like an epoxy and instead let it wet the parts like it's meant to.

[@lucasstiles8012]

This is my favorite restoration channel. You do a great job and try not to cut corners. Plus you point out materials of interest, and talk about things you didn't expect/not sure what to do with. Seriously, great job.

[@user-uv3gj4wk6s]

Good work. There's only one step to rearrange them in stereo.

[@sonofeloah]

Do not think they would have sounded very good at doing stereo. Maybe if some really thin felt washer was placed between the diaphragm plates and the aluminum housing. Cut out the buzzing that some stereo notes would have caused.

[@denniswoycheshen]

@@sonofeloah worth a shot. :)

[@gotterfunken]

Yeah, I Wonder Why He Didn't.

[@darkstarnh]

Yes. They are 2 identical transducers. Simply using a stereo jack plug would work fine. We did it with some similar cans years ago in work (BBC sound) just for a laugh.

[@_evildoer]

@@sonofeloah what the hell do you mean stereo notes? Each driver would be getting a mono signal just like before, only each would be a different signal.

[@mauriciomarianocarneiro]

Nice to see new actors on the series! I already saw some work of small screwdriver and it surely have future in showbiz!

[@cryptk]

Shoddy Autofocus showed up to contribute as well around 17:50 perhaps they should get a credit as well!

[@bigman1954]

How the hell was this comment posted two days ago??

[@clockwork9827]

i now know the Big Screwdriver is

[@chrisconway8163]

I'm glad to see you used your tumbler to help with the finish on these headphones. As soon as I saw them I thought they would be perfect for Rolling Stones.

[@jo2lovid]

Some Bachman Turner overdrive "Not Fragile"

[@HeyPatch]

That’s incredible that they still work ~100 years on. No EarPods will ever last even half as long. Great video 👍

[@GreatSageSunWukong]

Hey Patch doesn't surprise me, look at the tech inside, they are very basic, probably best not to wear them in the rain tho unless you want to cut down on your need for enegy drinks to keep you alert.

[@63256325N]

Super cool you were able to restore them and to have them work to boot! 😁 Nice job! Thanks for the video. 👍

[@Stormbringer1992]

Very interesting speaker design - explains quite well how they managed to survive all these years.

[@doriangraves6114]

Dude you do an amazing job. Upload more please. I love your content

[@benmendell6514]

Me and garbage on the floor have a lot in common. I really associate with that character

[@machigiceb7788]

Same

[@user-tl8pc9fd3l]

Same

[@TheDonSapius]

Same. (Also 69th 'like')

[@garfield1415]

Eric, I love your Videos! keep up that amazing quality, and I really enjoy your style!

[@MazeFrame]

When you took the earpieces to the buffing wheel, I did not expect them to come out like that!

[@GrymsArchive]

Bakelite

[@sthenzel]

Bakelite polishes really well! If it´s just a little dull, wax polish for cars applied by hand already does a beautiful job.

[@princessapplestrach6327]

Can you polish an mp40 then ? Have it all black and polished but not for the metal pieces

[@clementyanick]

I'm getting you soldering flux for Christmas.

[@stoutlager6325]

I'll chip in for that.

[@chandlerpelham9480]

@@stoutlager6325 also some thinner solder not 1/4" diameter stuff

[@mogwopjr]

Seriously, a little flux and that job would have been so much easier. Second to that, a good temp controlled soldering iron and some decent tips. I've done some crazy fiddly repairs with a Rat-Shak branding iron, but I never looked back once I acquired a good iron.

[@saifaddeenal-manaseer6325]

Maybe an instructional video too.

[@leosedf]

Warton metals future HF rework jelly. Trust me.

[@busman2000]

I will never grow tired of your sense of humor. I enjoy watching you do what I can not financially afford to do. As I don't have workshop space. Keep up the good work.

[@stevendee2831]

That was amazing a restored a pair of my grandfathers aircraft head sets When I was a teenager. The neat thing is that you can still find a lot of cloth wrap wire out there and they work just great

[@PapaGleb]

Looks amazing, love the brass and nickle color mix, much better than original! Another superb job!!!

[@stanisawk1385]

10:51 When soldering, you need to use rosin, then soldering is faster and more reliable and the resulting connector is electrically better.

[@typheous99]

Listen, I watch a lot of KZbin, and you have by far the best intro there is. Cracks me up 100% of the time.

[@defender_of_wonder]

The black earpiece looked new after buffing! Beautiful!!Headphones 🎧 looked great 👍🏻 ❤️😊

[@thomaswhitten2537]

A little saddle soap on the leather goes a long way. There are tons of stuff to restore dried out leather but you really only need a couple chemicals to bring it back nicely.

[@TheRealColBosch]

I'm pretty sure that's canvas, not leather. Pause about 5:53 to see the weave.

[@thomaswhitten2537]

@@TheRealColBosch Yeah, you're probably right. I had a leather one in CAP and that's what my mind went to :)

[@thomaswhitten2537]

@@majortom5838 I have no idea. I would think Amoral might do better.

[@cosmasindico]

Scalable Banana! I loved him back in the 80s. Nice to see the ol timers are still working.

[@amanawolf9166]

That coating reminded me of some old mirrors in the bathroom I had to redo. Used some paint stripper to take off the protective coating (think I used DCM based stripper), and then got some off the shelf Muriatic acid from the pool section to help with the silver coating.

[@carlosrafaelsanchez7923]

magnific work i admire all the restorators do, is so amazing see someting line new

[@malleusmaleficarum9248]

All hipsters will get a heart attack when they see it on the street. ;)

[@jonathancook4022]

Yeah, i'd love to see a 'reaction video' Dj's who use Vinyl will also like these!

[@marcun666]

I bet there would be people willing to pay a lot of money for headphones like this considering how much Beats by Dre cost.

[@jetjazz05]

"Hipsters react to not being the hippest hipster"

[@jimadams8182]

I still haven't forgotten those bastards for appropriating my beer! Now i know how Michael Bolton from Office Space feels.

[@alfyer5]

LOL my first thought

[@LiLi-or2gm]

That one character sure is buff and has a very polished technique!

[@Sandy.J.Lloyd.Sr.]

I restored an old pair of headphones almost like the ones you’ve restored, but the electronics were fried, so I took another pair of modern headphones and used their guts in my antique ones and they rock. My son uses them as his gaming headphones to this day. Love the channel keep on restoring.

[@MrStampfer]

Great intro and perfect restoration :) Good work man

[@BradleyRhea]

Finally, an official standard scaling banana

[@ChuckD59]

Oh sure, but whose "standard"? Surely not those Canadians'. They just don't know their bananas.

[@HandToolRescue]

@@ChuckD59 But a Norwegian made it for me. We all know how much Norwegians love bananas...

[@doggfite]

1 day ago? This video shows it's like hours old lol

[@BradleyRhea]

@@doggfite Patreon supporters get to see them early.

[@doggfite]

@@BradleyRhea ah, I see, thanks!

[@Mishn0]

The "coating" on the disks is probably mica for insulation. It's a mineral.

[@nicholasfournier9842]

Gotta say I was originally interested in the item being restored but the intro was so awesome. Good stuff my dude.

[@luissantiago5163]

Man this is awesome. So cool. You've earned a new subscriber! Keep it up!

[@stanisawk1385]

10:13 It is worth scratching an isolated wire with a sharp knife, because sometimes this wire consists of enamelled wires, i.e. insulated. If you do not scrape the wire with paint, then it is difficult to solder it anywhere.

[@larrykelly2838]

Great job, glad to see ya back on. Where's my 🔧.

[@69virgin1966]

Great restoration. They turned out great 👍. Even the sound is really good 👍. Thanks for sharing and God bless

[@shannondangelo3050]

I think this is the first of your videos that I didn't thoroughly enjoy. Still gave a thumbs up because I know that you put a lot of effort into your videos. Keep up the good work.

[@TheOtherBill]

Hand Tool Rescue: I wanted to keep the restoration faithful to it's original state. Me: Hand Tool Rescue: Nickel-plating was fancy back then, but now brass is fancy! Me: WTF?

[@aznmarty256]

Not gonna lie, I was expecting him to (re-)electroplate the brass.

[@TheDonSapius]

I was kinda pissed about removing the plating, it adds to the history of the item, otherwise good job.

[@Roberta0X]

The nickel-plating also slows corrosion considerably. The OTs called it "German silver" when they wanted to pimp the appearance but the real marketing story is, "Doesn't turn green in the next six months."

[@motowizard4444]

I used to work in a instrument repair shop and used a buffer like that all the time. I kept waiting to watch a part go flying across the shop 😅😂

[@smasica]

Reminds me of a pair of headphones I bought out of an Allied Radio catalog back in 1961. I used them for shortwave radio listening. They had the same metal diaphragms.

[@enriquekahn9405]

The intro is amazing. Good work with bringing these back to life, I really wonder how they sound.

[@danawrigleywalkingstickand5677]

I missed Nutella in the opening credits, but I have to admit the scaling banana has appeal.

[@SpaceraverDK]

* has a peel.. FTFY..

[@robertgemski7728]

@dana i see whatcha did there haha

[@chetmanley8755]

Some would say that Scaling Banana has the same effect that bringing the young cousin onto the Brady Bunch has.

[@666neoselen]

nutella and bananas have such a long story between them :D

[@ladyj2552]

My favorite part of the intro, garbage on the floor!❤❤👌🏼👌🏼

[@leifwinter9666]

Will Garbage (specifically on the floor) ever not be a part of the intro

[@firerott]

Best intro ever. Reminded me of the things I used to watch as a kid

[@Penfold8]

To help with soldering you should add a little solder to the iron tip before you touch the part with the iron. This creates a heat bridge and will help you heat the part up a little faster.

[@marsdeimos4301]

Couple of things I'd like to point out, 11:38 "These are mono headphones" No dude, they have two independent drivers, they can be wired as stereo just as well as mono; they will be mono only if you mono them, and there is no reason to do that today. Reason why they were originally wired together in parallel is because back in 1923, stereo wasn't really a thing yet. But it absolutely is now, and your headphone amplifier, and pretty much every other piece of contemporary audio equipment that comes with a headphone jack is, surprisingly (not), at least stereo, it has a stereo headphone output designed for TRS plugs, where T(tip) is left channel, R(ring) is right channel and S(sleeve) is common. And when you plug a TS plug wired like that to it, what happens is the right channel gets shorted out by the longer sleeve, and only the left channel is output into both phones, so not only does it ruin the stereo image, but it also short circuits the right channel of the headphone amplifier, which is not good for its health. It's not like you're monoing them for the vintage value... that ship has sailed the moment you put that new plug on. Speaking of which.... 12:17 "These wires are way too big for this jack (* note - its a plug; jack is the hole you plug it into) but I have to make this work" Or, you could buy a proper quality plug, such as the Neutrik NP3X-B and use that instead of that cheap chinese piece of junk. Or better yet, you could try and find a vintage brass TRS plug, like from an old telephone switchboard (blog.lazerwalker.com/images/switchboard/cable.jpg ). Anything but ^that^ (11:50).

[@cobralyoner]

Mars Deimos i agree on the message but not so much on the way it’s presented. HTR is an expert in everything mechanical but maybe not so much electrical an that’s fine because he doesn’t do that much electrical work in his videos. Maybe this would be a cool opportunity for someone who knows how to make a „real“ cord for the headphones with the proper jack and wire cleanly soldered (:

[@diyworkbench]

You can really tell when someone is into old tools when he whips out the vintage rca adapter for composite video signal and right channel audio at 19:08. Everything else would not be suitable for that type of headphones. Respect.

[@justinharveyjohnashby]

A wonderful production as always.

[@_Kory]

so glad you went back to that intro love it

[@Simtar123]

The intro is the stuff of legends!

[@jungleking9703]

That intro was typical 80s.

[@enelgaragedemartincho]

Nice job as always man

[@lonespartan100]

The intro and the no music earned you a subscription

[@RanakaHai]

Discovered this channel yesterday, easily one of my new favorite things on KZbin.

[@stabilini]

Man, change the plug and make it stereo! Great vid as always!!

[@leecaptis5865]

If they had the need , and knowledge in 1923 , they would be originally wired as stereo !

[@chrisis9030]

That intro kills me every time but somehow I keep coming back.

[@malrex0mari]

Wow that surely took a lot of time! Beautiful Work!

[@irishn8]

I have those! I need to restore them too, thanks for the inspiration! Love your channel

[@stevenditrapani6311]

Nice work! I like the brass better too. Did you keep these or are they a commission?

[@kahlid-ataya]

11:05 you should use smaller size solder and adding some flux will make it easier to solder

[@Mishn0]

...and tin the wires before inserting them into the terminals. I wouldn't bother crimping them either.

[@tpobrienjr]

The headphone is a fine piece of equipment. Worthy of your restoration.

[@alialabbas1982]

100 years old ! Wow that's really amazing.

[@mardeeda]

awesome restore: seems like the tip of your soldering iron was tinned. Many of your solder joints looked cold.

[@uniballoutlaw]

M*A*S*H Beats by Radar O'Reilly and Hand Tool Rescue

[@pintjockey4745]

That's all I could think of was Radar

[@Popeye64]

Looks brilliant

[@domeatown]

OLD AUDIO TECH. That's my absolute jam! Do more! Mr. Carlson's Lab is a good resource here on youtube for learning more about it. Very nice work.

[@neorojas5859]

Excited to see Scaling Banana and Adjustable Wrench work together

[@iskandertime747]

Think of the hijinks they could get up to!

[@duchi882]

*Meanwhile Me:* _* buys new headphones *_

[@oobaka1967]

Agreed. I can get behind old tool restoration but when it comes to electronics, I want the newest. But not Beats by Dre...total overpriced garbage

[@rugger8787]

Duchi them headphones will last a nother 80 years

[@TilmanBaumann]

Yea just spent 60€ on some utterly junky inadequate shit from skullcandy. Unusable. Astonishing that they have the balls to ask that price. But honestly, those bad boys here don't exactly look like hi-fi either.

[@md4luckycharms]

@@TilmanBaumann I mean you are the sucker that paid 60 communist dollars on Skullcandy

[@truly1676]

Ok seeing you hook up that contraption to your nice sleek fancy modern phone was everything...!!! I’m shook the house lol. We love a good retro meets modern moment!!!

[@Douglas46461]

Love old headphones. Great video👌👌. Thanks 😊

[@jameskanipe770]

The intro gets me every time bro! I love it, dont change it!

[@Katzztar]

It gets me too. It reminds me of some 80s tv show … but I can't remember which one!! XD

[@butwait]

@@Katzztar Growing pains, or any other 80's sitcom

[@MrJunk78]

Nice lookin' set of cans you got there. And don't bogart the stone washer. I gotta pair of mom jeans I need to toss in later.

[@greghanlon2235]

quality work like always

[@budwoodman1716]

Great restore ! Just got my wrench yesterday, serial # 4251 which I ordered in November 2018. Not complaining though, it is great. It is solid and heavy. I immediately when out into the garage to look for things that needed 'wrenching'. I works superbly and makes me wish I ordered 2 of them. I know you are out or the new mini wrenches but your site says you will begin taking orders again in the fall. I sure hope to be able to order one of them when you get ready to start production. Don't know if you read all these comments, but if you do, thank you for designing and building such a solidly built and extremely functional tool. My hat is off to you sir. Can't wait for your next video.

[@ThebigNut]

They use these kinds of headphones at school to do like the high frequency tests except slightly more advanced

[@morophineswordphich8229]

Oh wow! The screen debut of scale banana! I am so hype!

[@floritaka]

Nice job, for the electronics in order to have a better fit of the plug: - Cut the cables with different lenghts (the distance between the plug's terminals) so you dont have to push the bottom cable. - Insert both cables throught the mid of the plug. Instead of the positive line inserted from the top of the terminal of the plug, insert it from the bottom, this way the plastic cover will slide with less obstruction. Use heat shrink tube if the cables get to close.

[@markharris5771]

My father used to make crystal radios in the latter part of the 1930s, I can just imagine him with a pair of similar headphones on. Though probably they would have been made in England rather than New York. He would have enjoyed this video. A fantastic restoration, they really are exceptional and look pretty cool. A brilliant video, I really enjoyed it. Thank you for posting it.

[@hikerbro3870]

Oh yeah? Well,...... Nickel plasted brass hates you back! There, now you're even! 😡 We, however, think you're the bees knees. 😀

[@awldune]

It's not every day I watch a video and think, "I'm better at soldering than this guy" :D

[@socketuspuppetus1216]

It did not wanna flow, he did it correctly. It seems he is using the non flux version. The flux version has a resin/flux core that aids with flowing of the soldering tin. The solid version you need to apply flux before hand.

[@ColtaineCrows]

Definitely did not apply enough heat to the part, that's why it didn't flow, I definitely saw flux. You wanna see someone that knows how to solder? Watch bigclivedotcom. His iron probably has too low thermal mass for the parts he tried to solder... Or he used the asstastic lead free tin, which is just no fun to work with.

[@theropesofrenovation9352]

Wow. That worked better than expected. You JAM!!!

[@everettmeadows5833]

Great video, man! I was curious how the sound would be. I like a cheapie fly tying vise to wrap thread like that - makes it go pretty quick.

[@editor0018]

Thinner soldering wire might have helped you for this restoration. Melts faster.

[@agenttechnoman]

A little bit of flux paste may not have been a terrible idea, either.

[@evankolar8957]

It took me a few times to realize that you were soldering the wires to the screw heads. I couldn’t see the wires very well. But an amazingly good restoration! Where’s the best place I can find a decent pair of these types of headphones?

[@HandToolRescue]

Thanks! eBay is the place.

[@evankolar8957]

Hand Tool Rescue thank you! Im gonna have to do one of these restorations myself!

[@rayjones3212]

Clean your tip and keep it clean with a damp cloth or sponge. Then when soldering something like the very small wire to the terminal, don't have the terminal sitting in / on a natural heat sink. This will cause you to pull what hair you have left out as you constantly will get cold solder joints. They turned out beautiful! Nice job and great share. :)

[@Wulferious]

Fantastic. Haven't seen a set like that for over 40 years. My Uncle had a set similar to those for his HAM radio setup.

[@adigal209]

Maple syrup is such a good actor, I love his role.

[@texastimleister]

I can remember using a pair like that in 3 grade

[@user-gb6nm2zp5y]

If I only could like this video twice: one - for the intro, second - for the perfect restoration.

[@synchro505]

That's gotta be one of the best intros on KZbin. Love it!

[@shinigamikuroshitsuji336]

"The hand tool rescue show " 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 These earphones are for ever Now we are in the disposable era

[@wtfiswiththosehandles]

Meh, I still have all my headphones I bought since early 90's

[@valshaped]

Why throw away headphones, even now? Get the best pair you possibly can and don't let 'em break. They're not cell phones; no part of a pair of headphones is put under extreme stress under the manufacturing process and kept that way so it'll shatter on contact

[@user-po6hn9id1t]

This happens with dirt cheap things. Repair is uneconomical

[@HammarixSwe]

Got a pair of 70's Sony headphones that would need some fixing but I don't have the guts to gut them

[@Pythnn]

It's less of a speaker and more of a transducer. I have literally never seen that before and I love it

[@davidbumpus3457]

Good work. Those look amazing.