Reeel-to-Reel

[OldiesButGoodies]

This is one pice I have never really had in my collection (I had a crappy one bought at a Yard sale but it was not representative of the potential, IMO). 

Is reel-to-reel a good source like LPs are?  Is it a decent way to archive my LPs.  What is a decent starting deck?  I must admit I love the look of he older Pioneers. 

Thanks,

Pepe

[Falcon]

They sound very good. I have a Pioneer RT-707 and the sound quality is excellent even with tapes that were recorded 35 years ago..

Mine is also for sale.

[OCCD]

I would look for a Revox A77.  Great deck and no belts.

[schwarcw]

I own a Pioneer RT-707 like Falcon377 has for sale and I love it.  It doesn't play 10" reels like the Revox A77.  I've never owned the Revox A77 but I have heard several and these are fabulous machines.

The machine that I am exceptionally fond of is the Teac X-2000.  It plays 10" reels and sounds fabulous!  I revaneered the wood cabinet.  It's not for sale, but you take take a peek!

[Falcon]

Very nice Carl, excellent job on the veneer..

[OldiesButGoodies]

Thanks for the responses... useful guidance - now to hunt for the right piece.


Carl:

I must admit I have always wanted to understand the art of re-veneering - can you explain a bit about what it requires (is a router the main tool or do you use knives?) and how hard is it to do?  where do you get the wood?

thanks!

pepe

[schwarcw]

The veneer is acutally pretty easy.  I bought the real stuff that is applied with glue.  Home Depot and Lowes has real wood veneer with adhesive on one side that you can basically iron on.  Experts use a router, I used a little cutting tool.  Hand sand after application with a 12" long X 3" wide flat steel sander with 150 grit self adhesive pads.  Sand carefully because the veneer is very thin.  I used a wood dye and not a stain.  The dye is a non grain raising dye that just gives the wood grain a magnificient appearance.  The dye is applied with a rag and immediately removed, which is very different than stain.  A coat or two of hand applied polyurathane and that's basically it.

F1Nut is the resident wood expert who gave me guidance and wonderful advice.  Three cheers for Jesse!

[schwarcw]

You can buy the wood online.  I bought mine from a dealer out near Latrobe.  I can't remember the name.  Check the Superpages, I think the town is actually Youngstown, PA just a few miles South of Latrobe.

[OCCD]

 
F1Nut is the resident wood expert who gave me guidance and wonderful advice.  Three cheers for Jesse!

We will keep Jesse!

You can also get some pretty exotic veneers on the web( especially Epay)  As for Carl's machine... A true work of art!

[schwarcw]

Thanks Tom!

The wood veneer that I used was cherry, stained with cherry.  Wipe on polyurethane.

[OldiesButGoodies]

Carl - that cheery veneer looks incredible. I need to learn the art of veneering.  I have been reading up and it looks to be a fairly straightforward process.  Now I need to find something to veneer.   The case of the Kenwood KR-9600 has some rough edges but I would rather leave it original for now.  So I need to find an old reel to reel with a case in need of re-veneering.   

Jesse helped me out with Polk 5Jrs - I am going to overhaul their crossover today based on his advice (and replace the tweeters once I get them from Polk).  Will ask for his advice once I get closer to the veneering project.

THANKS