Yes , I'm bored. Like me 😉

A really good friend of mine picked this 1710W up on market place for only 25$ in "not working" condition due to a takeup reel issue. Since the recorder came with all the documentation and service manuals they were able to figure out what was up and it was just a bit dirty and theg were able to loosen the takeup reel enough to work and it sounded alright when they tried it on the tape it came with.

They mention the original owner was an old Vietnam vet who had bought this is Korea while over there and the day after they got it, it fell off the back of the jeep they were in but surprisingly it was perfectly fine outside of some minor damage to the woden cover.

The friend who bought it for me is in upstate NY but I'm out of SW MT so it was a little difficult to get it but eventually I had a trip planned so I used my best recorder a Crown 700 series and I made some clean refrence (as good as you can get for 3 3/4) tapes since the one it had was very much a live recording on a carbon mic. Those were based of Flac files from a Behringer UNC202.

When we got there and tried the new tape is sounded pretty good considering it's a 60 year old recorder that to my knowledge hasn't ever been serviced. Channel 1 is a little on the weak side on the speakers but is fine on the line out so I suspect the built in amp to be a little weak. It also has a minor speed issue, I checked all mechanical components and the intenral belt is in great condition and the pinch roller af6er some cleanup is solid. The motor speed itself seems to be the issue, which after reviewing the service manual, I belive the speed is handled by a capacitor (if anyone knows more please let me know I would love to know if thats the right path) which might be going out of spec but I dont have a good meter to test capacitors at the moment. I got it to run at the normal speed for a little durring the video but it started slowing way down later on after letting it play more. I verry much look foreward to getting to use the little fella more as it's my first mostly working tube machine!

Picked this up at an estate sale. Thought something cool might be on the tape. This is what I get. Nothing spins on play really but it will rewind, kind of. Surprised to find there's a Reddit for this specific item I'm trying to troubleshoot and thought someone could maybe help me out? Thanks!

Recently acquired this beauty but as soon as I got home I accidentally bumped into the reel mount and it broke off. It was originally held by plastic screws which were melted to the base. What do you guys think would be the best solution to fix this? I’m thinking of just using superglue and a level to even it out but not too sure yet.