Ethan Winer ethanw at ethanwiner dot com wrote:
Thanks for all the replies. I'm forwarding them to my friend.

Mike: I'm not sure how many tapes there are, but it's probably a few dozen
or more 10" reels. He has been looking on eBay, and so far has lost several
bids at up to $450 which is about all he's willing to spend. I agree with
those that say he should hire someone to do it, and I've told him that. Even
if he finds a machine for $450, he's still looking at *many* hours of his
own time to do the work.

Not to mention that, after buying the machine for $450, he's going to be
spending a couple hundred bucks to replace the pinch roller, disassemble
the motor to clean and lube the bearings, sweep-test everything and make
sure it can be aligned for flat response, and clean all the contacts. And
that is assuming it's not full of bad caps and the heads are new.

Buying a machine that has sat in storage for years, like most of these
machines have, and then expecting to put it into service without a substantial
investment, is going to result in some real surprises.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."