The Tape Project has been around for a while now as has this forum. It's great to see that folks of all levels of knowledge have been able to enjoy these wonderful releases and by hook or by crook, been able to get their machines running well enough to get the most out of these tapes.
I thought I'd post this little reminder that whatever machine you have, the mechanical aspects of your beloved machine does require regular maintenance.
It used to be that just about every hi fi repair shop had someone who was familiar enough with reel to reel to pull out a service manual and check stuff like tape tensions, examine the heads and brakes for even wear and clean the pots and tape path (maybe rotating fixed guides that have become worn) but of course that just isn't the case today. Those guys are still out there, but it usually takes a good bit of hunting to find one in your area.
I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed in the scant entries in the Service Resources forum here. I'd like to thank all the folks who've posted service locations but surely, there are more.
One good way to find repair guys is to ask on some of these forums. The Tape Trail over on Audio Asylum or the yahoo groups reel to reel forums would be a good starting place. Also, calling folks that still use magnetic tape (studios, radio stations, video production houses) could turn up the real pro's in your neighborhood.
If you've been doing all your own work, it's well worth taking your machine at least once, to someone that has all the test gear and knowledge to check your work and give you a baseline.
For most of us here, I think that doing, or having it done probably doesn't have to be done every year, but at least once every 2 years it should be done like clockwork. Performance of your tape machine (or any machine for that matter) is always slipping down a tiny bit. Things like it's heads, guides, bearings, brakes, pinch rollers, and belts wear very gradually so it's difficult to hear the changes. Most of the areas of wear can be compensated for by tweaking the adjustments very slightly. Other things like bearings in the tape path and rubber parts can be cleaned and lubed or treated to keep them rolling and/or pliable in the case of belts and rollers.
One of the most important things is examining all the fixed (non rolling) surfaces that the tape travels across. The heads should be closely examined for even wear. I've read a many times that folks used to use some sort of special tape of marker that you could play and as it moved through the tape path, it would leave a trail of dark colored deposit behind and you could see the tape contact area. I'm sure Paul knows what I'm talking about and perhaps he could clue us in on the details. But, however you do it, the contact patch on the heads should be a nice, centered, symmetrical rectangle. If you heads are fairly new, you should be able to see this as a shiny area polished by the tape, but, you could be led astray if the head had been poorly adjusted at one time and the previous contact patch was larger than the new one.
Well, there's a lot more info about heads and maintenance items in the Beginner's Guide (located above this forum in a sticky).
One thing that alway bears repeating is that you should have one or two reels of tape (I keep a 10.5 and 7 inch) for all maintenance and repair. Never use an important tape for repairs. That includes test tapes. My 7" "fix-it" tape is a reel of fresh RMGI 911 on which I've recorded a bit of solo piano and some test tones (about 5 minutes of each). I've done some horrible things to that poor tape and when I think of it, I'll make a new reel and toss that one.
So, if you've been enjoying tape on your machine for 2 or 3 years and haven't done, or had done a "tune up",.. it's probably time.
