I feel like the stereo equipment finds me, the last thing I needed was another reel to reel but this guy was calling my name and it came with around 40 NOS 3M Scotch tapes for little cash. I bought it untested without the cord but most of these just need a little playing around with and a good cleaning to get working properly. First I had to get a suitable replacement cord, this will do. It need just a little modification Insert fully Success! There's a slight grinding sound from the inside, I guess I'll have to open this one up.
I got sidetracked and opened it up. The clicking was a broken drive belt and I checked my stash to see if I had anything that would fit. The old one was goo so I had to turn to the net to find the size. It took a while to find a site that listed the size and then more time to go through the stash and physically measure all the loose belts. The good news is I had one that fit and after spending some time taking the guy apart I successfully replaced the belt. It's still a little dirty and I need to do a good cleaning but I had to try it out and using the tape that was mounted on it, I plugged in my thrift store find Pioneer SE-50s to find everything almost working properly. The best part, was that after a few moments of listening I picked up the distinctive guitar sound of, yea that's right, you got it, Joe Walsh! Live Joe, or maybe the James Gang but it sounds pretty darn good.
