HELP!!! Studer B62

[Geefresh]

Posting board to you today, Arkless, if ok? First class so hopefully you can give me the verdict on if you can repair it/whether or not it is that in time for that eBay one. Cheers!

[Arkless Electronics]

Posting board to you today, Arkless, if ok? First class so hopefully you can give me the verdict on if you can repair it/whether or not it is that in time for that eBay one. Cheers!

Yes that's fine but I'm rather busy atm so can't guarantee to check it out before ebay listing ends. I presume you've found my address?

[Geefresh]

Yeah, off t'internet! Cheers!

Did you see my post about the geezer having a new capstan motor for your 62?

[Arkless Electronics]

Yeah, off t'internet! Cheers!

Did you see my post about the geezer having a new capstan motor for your 62?

I did thanks. It's not a priority for me to fix it and I wouldn't be willing to pay the going rate so my B62 will probably remain an objet 'd art. It could do with a new pinch roller as well and I definitely won't pay what they go for! £100 for a rubber wheel? Nah. (if anyone knows where they are available for half that I'm still not interested I'm afraid). I have a much better machine in my PR99 MkIII for the once in 5 years I may actually use a R2R....

Your board just arrived BTW

[337alant]

Jez,
This Terrys rubber rollers is supposed to be very good and reasonable price , only problem is he is in America

http://www.terrysrubberrollers.com/

Alan

[Geefresh]

I got my replacement for £60 so...

[Arkless Electronics]

I spent a ridiculous amount of time on the machine as something to "lose myself in" after the death of my father... replaced most of the bearings with scientific grade items etc (very probably didn't need it) and was planning on totally sorting it. When I came to the conclusion that the motor itself was slightly out of true I just gave up on it. It's sat there with a sheet over it for about 18 years now! The pinch roller was useable but hardening back then and would definitely need replacing now. I very rarely use R2R these days so I can't justify maybe £200 (I'm guessing) for a known 100% good motor and £60 - £120 on a pinch roller. Maybe one day I'll have my "vintage head" on and have a flash of inspiration to sort it

[337alant]

Jez
I feel sorry for you service engineers with vintage equipment like this you are between a rock and a hard place as what to charge for this type of repair work. What people expect to pay and the actual hours spent to restore these machines just doesn't add up.
If it was a car a garage would charge a fixed hourly rate and extra charges for testing which would make this kind of work a totally uneconomical repair.

I only do this as a hobby but its still obvious from the machines I have restored so far that there are a lot of hours and specialist equipment required to get these vintage machines repaired Calibrated and fully functional again.

This is one area that you have to be aware of if you consider buying Reel 2 Reel machines particularly the vintage ones

That said I still love them and the sound is superb

Alan

[Barry]

About four years ago I came very close to buying a Studer C37 at a very good price. The seller lived only about 50 miles from me and the machine was in very good condition (complete with VU meter unit).

After a lot of soul-searching, I decided that it would have been a caprice on my part to have the machine as I would not have used it fully, and spares for it would become rare, expensive and difficult to obtain. It seemed wrong to buy it and not use it, and deny the chance for other enthusiasts to properly employ the machine.

So in the end the head won.

[Arkless Electronics]

Jez
I feel sorry for you service engineers with vintage equipment like this you are between a rock and a hard place as what to charge for this type of repair work. What people expect to pay and the actual hours spent to restore these machines just doesn't add up.
If it was a car a garage would charge a fixed hourly rate and extra charges for testing which would make this kind of work a totally uneconomical repair.

I only do this as a hobby but its still obvious from the machines I have restored so far that there are a lot of hours and specialist equipment required to get these vintage machines repaired Calibrated and fully functional again.

This is one area that you have to be aware of if you consider buying Reel 2 Reel machines particularly the vintage ones

That said I still love them and the sound is superb

Alan

This is why I didn't offer to take over the repair of the entire machine for "Geefresh" and why I only offer to repair electronic faults for customers with R2R's. It should be remembered that a B62 was approx £16000 in todays money and a C37 £35000 when new. Properly overhauling such machines will often cost more than the machine is worth if charging commercial rates for repair. As you say specialises equipment is often required such as calibration tapes... fragile and expensive! I went to the lengths of designing and building my own tape tension gauge when working on my B62...