Fascinating hearing the history.
I started out doing exactly the same things back in the day. (Where did I go wrong? :-)
Paul, you are blessed to have had such a life.
In a way you, (and the whole Tape Project crew), Martin Theophilus for his collecting, Len Horowitz for his activities with collecting restoration and advancement of the legacy of Westrex cutters, and Keith Johnson @ Reference for his advancement of the state of the audio art in many areas, are all my heroes.