I've only had a few hours to play with my new 1939 T. R. McElroy Mac Key Deluxe, but I'll have to say it is as nice a key as I had hoped it would be.
The seller, whose quite a collector and restorer of a variety of cw keys, promised this key to be in excellent condition, and he was correct. It appears to be nearly new, though I know that's not the case. I've not seen many Vibroplex keys of this vintage arrive in such beautiful shape, reconditioned or otherwise.
The seller did a fantastic job packing the key, even going so far as to remove the finger pieces to prevent damage. He had the key packed as well as he could, and it arrived in perfect shape.
The key looks like it just came out of the box last week, it's that nice. And you wouldn't believe how nicely adjusted it was when it arrived — it has a very lively action that doesn't require a heavy hand; that's not an easy feat on some of the bugs I've owned. My earlier Mac Key requires a very heavy hand, and thus I've not used it much. Obviously I need to set my old one up in a similar manner!
I'll try the key on the air this weekend and see how it does. The key came with just one speed weight, so I'll have to clip a little extra on to slow down the dot rate.
Nothing else to report, though now I have to figure out how to keep my new key dust-free and in such wonderful shape; can't keep it looking this nice by leaving it rattling around the desk all the time.
SPEED-X UPDATE. Before I forget, I've been working on the replacement damper I've been making for that old Speed-X bug I bought recently. The key was missing the damper, so I've been trying to make one from some round brass stock. The Speed-X damper was simple, just a slotted post with a metal wheel mounted in the slot to damper the keying lever. I have my post nearly complete, needing only to drill and thread the mounting hole for the post and the wheel. It's not a work of art, but not a bad effort for a guy with some hand tools and a Dremel.
This Speed-X bug was built by the old Les Logan company of San Fransisco in the late 1930s. This one has the t-bar pivot frame and I picked it up dirt cheap sans the damper. I have several of these keys in my collection, and they're some of my favorites when it comes to styling. But if you ask my wife, I've never met a CW key I didn't like, so take what I say with the proverbial grain of salt.
73 es CUL … de KY4Z … sk dit dit ….