It really is unfortunate that the above mentioned restorer feels a need criticize any of the other folks who are involved in reel to reel.
I spoke to this gentleman a while back and had him replace some bearings in my Technics. The work he did was fine and I wouldn't have a problem with having him do other repairs for me but when I called to discuss some other things (I was trying to find a spare headblock at the time) the 25 minute rant he rewarded me with, sent me to the nearest bar for a couple of stiff ones!
Yikes! It reminded me of that Monty Python skit when the lady complained about the fork being dirty and the chef and owner killed themselves over it.
I think that these kinds of things are an unfortunate reality and are the result of issues which are personal rather than fact based.
A case in point are a few of the modifications that have been done to my machine which are denounced on the above mentioned site as being worthless. After these were done, I was shocked at the improvements to playback. There is, of course, the possibility that this is all in my head. I happen to think that I have a pretty good aural memory but you don't have to take my word for it.
As many of you know, I've been demoing these tapes at Headfi meets. One of the great things about headphones is that there's no room interaction so if the same person listens to the same set up with the same source material, the sound will be pretty close to identical.
After doing just a couple of the "tape path mods", I took my rig to a meet. Three different regulars were also shocked at the improvements. I make a habit of never mentioning any changes I've made so I get fairly unbiased impressions (sometimes, not good ones either). "What have you done to this thing!" "I didn't think that better resolution was possible,..!" and "Wow, the instruments are totally real now!" Were the types of comments I got (these are paraphrased of course but you get the gist).
So, if you haven't guessed by now, those tape path mods take the sound of the TP tapes from amazing to etherial. You won't hear the results on any old tape but you will on each and every TP tape. The delicate tinkle of a triangle, the texture and separation of acoustic guitars, or the definition of a drum whack. It's really something to behold!
But, to return to the subject of this thread,.. there is more than one way to skin a cat and I don't doubt that over the years, modifications will come and go. In fact, I'm counting on it. I believe that one of the strengths of our hobby is diversity. Several folks working independently on the common goal of reproducing music as faithful to the original event as possible.
I find nothing about criticizing others efforts to be "in service to the music" and can only assume that it originates from personal issues.