I remember when my partner, in our first real studio, bought this, I thought he was crazy because it cost what was back then, the eighties, a fortune. If I remember right this deck and our 1176 cost about the same! Well anyway I had to replace the capstan belt as the original had turned to a literally bubble gum like substance resembling tar! It was a real task to clean it off the fly wheel and motor pulley. I had to use a lot of expensive chamois swabs and 99% isopropyl alcohol to clean it.
While I was dismantling and reassembling this true work of art I started to think, as I pulled away each piece to get to the transport mechanism and then disassembled that to get the new belt on. They just don't and are never going to ever build something like this again. The number of different screws alone that was used is staggering let alone the detail and workings of the transport mechanism, its like a fine watch! It must have taken years literally to bring this device to market just the metal work alone is mind boggling!
Well just to cut to the chase it fired up perfectly and is running like a champ!
While I was dismantling and reassembling this true work of art I started to think, as I pulled away each piece to get to the transport mechanism and then disassembled that to get the new belt on. They just don't and are never going to ever build something like this again. The number of different screws alone that was used is staggering let alone the detail and workings of the transport mechanism, its like a fine watch! It must have taken years literally to bring this device to market just the metal work alone is mind boggling!
Well just to cut to the chase it fired up perfectly and is running like a champ!
