get it done before they chemically breakdown and dissolve (can’t avoid oxidation of the rubber) as cleaning the gunk off the spools can become a dealbreaker for the repair guy…it’s doable but very labor intensive, a major PITA…
been working on R to Rs forever, mostly 2” machines but haven’t touched one in at least a decade last one being a 3M machine at the Radio Television Luxembourg (RTL) studios…now mostly 1/4” machines smaller studios use to transfer analog recorded material to digital files….a fairly lucrative little service around here…
the owner of that Akai has a nice Teac as well…..thing is most young folks won’t touch these (easier to swap a card in a digital recorder) so they come to me….
worked on this Studer (my favorites) last year for someone offering the same service in the Costa del Sol….beautifully built machines…
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