shane
12-08-2011, 13:50
A friend was recently clearing out his late mother's effects and came across three Stellaphone ST454 reel-to-reel tape recorders, which he promptly gave to me, knowing that I'm "into that sort of thing".
http://www.thepippin.plus.com/Misc/stv1s.JPG
http://www.thepippin.plus.com/Misc/stv3s.JPG
All three are in the same condition. They are virtually unused, so have no sign of mechanical wear in the transports, and all tape heads are like new. All play back and record ok and all the magic eye indicators work beautifully. All three come with their original handbooks, and one has it's original warranty card ready to send off! As far as I can work out, they were purchased in the very early sixties. My friend says he remembers them sitting in the corner of his Dad's study, but never remembers them being used.
All three are showing the signs of fifty years of storage. The cabinets are covered in Rexine fabric which has discoloured and is starting to peel away from the plywood. Some of the brass decoration is a bit tarnished, and the sponge rings stuck inside the lids to hold tape reels in place when they're being carried have all disintegrated.
In addition, each of the tape hubs contains a clutch which consists of three felt pads about 10mm in diameter. These have completely de-natured and will need to be replaced before the machines will run satisfactorily. This will be a simple DIY job. At the moment, the machines all run, but are a bit erratic and noisy. Finally, one of them is missing the belt drive to it's tape counter (a round section belt about 1.5mm thick and 20cm long), and the other two don't look as though they will last long. The main drive from the motor to the capstans and hubs is via a square section belt about 4mm thick. All of these look good, but have taken a slight "set" where they've been sitting on the motor pulley. This improved noticeably in the short time I ran the machines, but if necessary, replacement belts shouldn't be too hard to source.
These are four-track mono machines, ie they will play twice in each direction on the tape, but you cannot record both tracks in one direction at once for stereo as there is only one record and playback amp. There is however a socket which will allow stereo playback of a pre-recorded tape through a suitable external stereo amp.
I have no idea what these are worth, and will be putting them on Ebay next week, but if anyone wants to make me an offer for one or all, send me a PM.
Specs here:
http://www.thepippin.plus.com/Misc/scan1s.jpg
http://www.thepippin.plus.com/Misc/scan2s.jpg
http://www.thepippin.plus.com/Misc/stv1s.JPG
http://www.thepippin.plus.com/Misc/stv3s.JPG
All three are in the same condition. They are virtually unused, so have no sign of mechanical wear in the transports, and all tape heads are like new. All play back and record ok and all the magic eye indicators work beautifully. All three come with their original handbooks, and one has it's original warranty card ready to send off! As far as I can work out, they were purchased in the very early sixties. My friend says he remembers them sitting in the corner of his Dad's study, but never remembers them being used.
All three are showing the signs of fifty years of storage. The cabinets are covered in Rexine fabric which has discoloured and is starting to peel away from the plywood. Some of the brass decoration is a bit tarnished, and the sponge rings stuck inside the lids to hold tape reels in place when they're being carried have all disintegrated.
In addition, each of the tape hubs contains a clutch which consists of three felt pads about 10mm in diameter. These have completely de-natured and will need to be replaced before the machines will run satisfactorily. This will be a simple DIY job. At the moment, the machines all run, but are a bit erratic and noisy. Finally, one of them is missing the belt drive to it's tape counter (a round section belt about 1.5mm thick and 20cm long), and the other two don't look as though they will last long. The main drive from the motor to the capstans and hubs is via a square section belt about 4mm thick. All of these look good, but have taken a slight "set" where they've been sitting on the motor pulley. This improved noticeably in the short time I ran the machines, but if necessary, replacement belts shouldn't be too hard to source.
These are four-track mono machines, ie they will play twice in each direction on the tape, but you cannot record both tracks in one direction at once for stereo as there is only one record and playback amp. There is however a socket which will allow stereo playback of a pre-recorded tape through a suitable external stereo amp.
I have no idea what these are worth, and will be putting them on Ebay next week, but if anyone wants to make me an offer for one or all, send me a PM.
Specs here:
http://www.thepippin.plus.com/Misc/scan1s.jpg
http://www.thepippin.plus.com/Misc/scan2s.jpg