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Disco Kid - Posted - 04/14/2015: 00:15:35
This is a closet find this weekend. We're going to drop it into our vintage stereo system and I'm thinking of recording with it too. I have all kinds of digital recording equipment but this has me intrigued.
it's a model 4010GSL in excellent condition but probably stored since the early 70's.
Any thoughts?
opotable - Posted - 04/14/2015: 02:06:17
take a very good look at all the rubber parts before you try anything. if you're lucky the drive belts will still be ok, but it's more than likely that the pinch rollers will be unusable. maybe just hard ,but if it's soft and gooey DO NOT touch it with bare fingers, the material on the japanese machines is extremely dangerous!
i have a whole bunch of reel to reels (teac,tascam,revox,sony, tandberg)but they haven't been used in years since i got a small USB desk which is simple and maintenance free!
RedStar - Posted - 04/14/2015: 02:26:26
Demagnetize it before use.
Mark
Alec Cramsie - Posted - 04/14/2015: 02:46:45
Can you still get the reel to reel tape?
Disco Kid - Posted - 04/14/2015: 04:03:39
Dangerous rollers. Who'd of thunk?
Thanks for the replies.
quote:
Originally posted by opotable
take a very good look at all the rubber parts before you try anything. if you're lucky the drive belts will still be ok, but it's more than likely that the pinch rollers will be unusable. maybe just hard ,but if it's soft and gooey DO NOT touch it with bare fingers, the material on the japanese machines is extremely dangerous!
i have a whole bunch of reel to reels (teac,tascam,revox,sony, tandberg)but they haven't been used in years since i got a small USB desk which is simple and maintenance free!
revellfa - Posted - 04/14/2015: 05:33:42
There is one company that still makes tape (I think the 08 bailout revived the company--the government apparently still wants tape.). They are about 25 bucks a piece now for 1/2 inch tape. I have three unused reels of it I think. I dabble in home recording and I prefer tape especially for the banjo. Good luck on this great find!
The Pope - Posted - 04/14/2015: 10:13:58
Unless I'm very much mistaken, your machine uses 1/4" tape, not 1/2", which may or may not be cheaper. I have a Sony 850 & a Technics 1506 & a bunch of tapes that haven't been on a machine in years. I want to play them at least once more because there is stuff on them that I want to transfer to my computer & then to CD. I think you should replace all the rubber parts/belts because they do go bad, especially if you live in a city (smog). YMMV...
Toothless in Kentucky - Posted - 04/15/2015: 14:55:23
quote:
Originally posted by Disco Kid
This is a closet find this weekend. We're going to drop it into our vintage stereo system and I'm thinking of recording with it too. I have all kinds of digital recording equipment but this has me intrigued.
it's a model 4010GSL in excellent condition but probably stored since the early 70's.
Any thoughts?
I use tape to record with everyday!! 
mdthib - Posted - 04/15/2015: 17:32:26
I've worked with reel-to-reel tape machines like this in recent years, often digitizing historic recordings. I will say that it can be a can of worms as old tape stock sometimes has glue that goes bad. The iron oxide flakes off as the tape is played, and the solution is to bake the tapes at a low temperature, which makes the tapes usable for a short period of time. Complicating this, some of the tape brands are highly flammable and baking them will cause major fire. SO, I've learned that the world of reel-to-reel is a rough one for the amateur (from mostly from colleagues in audio, whose lectures were sometimes less preferable than a fire).
If you just want to play around and have fun, certainly do so, but if you want to get serious with this machine you'll have to do some real research. There's a lot of incredibly important music (and lectures) still trapped on tape, and the compression and other distortions tape confers are highly prized for many recording situations.
Disco Kid - Posted - 04/25/2015: 09:43:52
I'm just revisiting this post. Thanks for the advice. It came with a couple cases of recorded tapes. It will be a few weeks before I tackle it. The Tapeheads.net like was priceless.
One funny thing is the "authorized" Teac repair shop for vintage units is about 2 miles away from the home I grew up in in Emerson, NJ.
Richard Dress - Posted - 04/25/2015: 10:53:51
Any advice on repairing my sony stereo recorder from the 70s? In the Nashville area? I had it tuned up and put in storage for a long time. Recently I took it out and it played a tape for about 30 minutes and then the pulley or something started slipping. I need to fix this because I have some good stuff on reel to reel like John Duffeys last night with the Country Gentlemen (at the Shamrock).
mikehalloran - Posted - 04/26/2015: 22:37:20
Sony has schematics and parts lists for everything as far as I can tell. They're in Southern California somewhere. The problem is finding the parts or their equivalents but there are sources.
