[ARSCLIST] Reel-to-reel tape recorder for auditioning archival tapes.

[RA Friedman <yiddishsong@xxxxxxxxx>]

A few hundred dollars has become available to purchase a ree-to-reel tape deck so that we can audition what I believe are mostly 1/2 track and possibly 1/4 track stereo reels playing at
3 3/4 or 7 1/2 ips. It's conceivable there are some 15 ips, but most likely not. I'm assuming we will need two decks, one for each head configuration.

Any recommendations as far as units, dealers, re-builds, etc?  We are not planning on using the deck for transfers, but we'd like something that will have a long useful life and won't be a huge maintenance headache.

With any luck, transfers will be done by an outside specialist. We need a unit that can give us some indication of what's on the tapes and will have minimal impact. Luckily the tapes have been stored under cool, dry conditions and none appears to have sticky-shed or surface/support breakdown even though some are acetate rather than polyester.

RA Friedman
Assistant Project Archivist
Historical Society of Pennsylvania


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