Maintenance Question for Steve

[Pinknik]

Hi, Steve. Just wondering, do you have any favorite tools/swabs/solutions/demagnetizers for maintaining a clean tape path on your various reel-to-reel machines? If something goes seriously south, are you handy with repair, or do you have a technician you rely on for trouble situations? Thanks.

[Steve Hoffman]

Denatured alcohol, 6 inch long Q-Tip type thingies called "Puritan Cotton Tipped Applicators"; used in hospitals and recording studios!

If something goes South, Kevin Gray is usually my tech of choice. I also have an Ampex "expert" who works on the really old Ampex machines.

For my vintage tube playback gear, my friend and colleague Grover Scott Huffman is the King of Repairs.

For Demag, I use an old Teac unit from the 1970's.