Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2013, 12:35 a.m. — I’ve been watching Perry Mason and The Untouchables tonight in the shack as I disassembled my latest key, the Bunnell Gold Bug.
If you are a key collector, then you are probably aware of the long debate regarding the practice of cleaning a key vs. keeping it in as-found condition. I have one nice, complete, original condition Bunnell Gold Bug already; this latest acquisition wasn’t complete, but it still is a nice, rather hard-to-find key.
The key had been cleaned and polished in the past, and after giving it some thought, I decided to go ahead and polish the key while I had it apart. It was pretty dull and grubby, so I threw caution to the wind and got out the (very gentle) brass cleaner and cotton rags.
What you see here are the results. Not a perfect job, mostly because I didn’t use a cleaner that was extremely abrasive. There are a couple of stained areas that a little more aggressive polishing would remove, but I didn’t go that route. I’m pretty pleased with the result, though I wish the key had the missing parts — the distinctive Gold Bug name plate, the circuit closer arm, and a contact point for the original dot contact.
I also cleaned the contact points on the keying lever and the contact post adjustment screws. I decided to put it together and check it out with my rig.
Well, you forget anyone’s proclamation that the Bunnell Gold Bug is difficult to use or adjust. I had the key zeroed in after a very short time, and man, does it play very, very well! I was concerned about the dot contact point assembly mounted on the keying lever and how well it might work in practice. It works very, very well.
The keying lever action does not seem to have the “power” to make dits for an extended length of time as will most Vibroplex bugs, but how many times do you need to send 50 dits in a row?
The dot contact screw works fine as an impromptu replacement for the original, though cleaned up a bit it is obvious the screw is not brass. After play with the key, I can forgive that.
Next I need to have a replacement Bunnell weight made for the key, and while I’m at it, I should make a duplicate circuit closer switch lever. Operating note: Without a factory weight, I used my homebrew “bug tamer” (solder wrapped around an alligator clip) to operate the key. I’m going to put this key on the air for Straight Key Night, no doubt about it. My other choices include my Martin Rotoplex, one of my 100th Anniversary Vibroplex keys, a Les Logan Speed-X 501 and perhaps an old Mac-Key or TAC “Hole-in-the-Wall” bug or two. See you on the air!