Granddad's old wire recorder

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signorMars
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Granddad's old wire recorder

Post by signorMars » Mon Aug 24, 2009 9:55 pm

So I've been recruited (not that I resisted) to archive my late grandfather's old wire recordings and entrusted with his old Webster Chicago Model 181 wire recorder. Thought all you TOMB folks might find it fun to see the thing and hear a bit about the process. Here is the beast:

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There's some serious corrosion on the knobs (the knobs are supposed to be red) and the nuts of their underlying switches, but as some of the switches seem from the schematic to be rather specific, I'm hoping I can get away with just a thorough cleaning. The knobs may get replaced, if I can find a good replacement without just buying another one of these things. So far I've done a smoke test and confirmed that it powers up and does not smoke (although the first time I switched it on the motors puffed out some dust that scared me). The bailer (the head itself moves up and down to ensure that the wire spools well) works just fine, so now it was time to play something. I spooled up a wire and listened to about 30 seconds, which was long enough to determine that everything works, but that the volume knob has a loose wire or something going on as it crackles and cuts out if you turn or tap the knob, so it looks like I will have to open it up and fix. While I'm at it, I'll probably replace the proprietary output jack with a 1/4" one. Looking at the schematic, it's just a standard unbalanced connection. It has 2 mics, so I think I'll cut the connector off one to make an XLR pigtail so I can run other mics and line level signals into the input instead of just being able to use the supplied crystal mics, although that's something for after the archiving is completed. Looking at the schematic, it seems like I can use the same numbering system they use for their schematic and connect pin 3 on their connector to pin 3 of the XLR and so on... am I right on this or am I missing something? Looking at some other tube mic pres, this seems to be correct. Schematic:

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Sorry for the bunch of pictures, but the thing is just so cool looking!
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Dakota
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Re: Granddad's old wire recorder

Post by Dakota » Mon Aug 24, 2009 10:21 pm

signorMars wrote:Sorry for the bunch of pictures, but the thing is just so cool looking!
No need at all to be sorry - the pictures are great fun! I bet other tapeoppers will agree. Good luck with that. I love archaic technology.

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calaverasgrandes
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Post by calaverasgrandes » Mon Aug 24, 2009 10:29 pm

now that is what I call analog.
??????? wrote: "everything sounds best right before it blows up."

sound for sandwiches
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Re: Granddad's old wire recorder

Post by sound for sandwiches » Tue Aug 25, 2009 9:05 am

signorMars wrote: Looking at the schematic, it seems like I can use the same numbering system they use for their schematic and connect pin 3 on their connector to pin 3 of the XLR and so on...
It looks like pin 3 of the input actually bypasses the first gain stage, and pin 2 utilizes it. so it's not a balanced input like an xlr. maybe depending on what is plugged in to the jack, the designers wanted to be able to rout different types of things to different parts of the circuit? you could tell by the jack on the mic you have, are all three pins connected? it's hard to suss what those ganged rotary switches do from the schematic, but it looks like there are settings for record, playback, and maybe hi/lo gain?

I have a similar wire recorder that a friend gave me years ago, I never used it because I have no wire spools to go with it. this post has inspired me to try using it as a mic pre... it will probably need to be modded to do that, but could be worth it.

-David

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JGriffin
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Post by JGriffin » Tue Aug 25, 2009 9:21 am

I have one as well, and it's pretty cool. Actually sounds pretty nice as well. Two issues mine has:

1) the motor speed is not constant unless I hold my finger on the lever.

2) the record head is not powerful enough to completely erase previous material. While this would be great for Les Paul-type sound on sound recordings, for other applications it means I can only record over a section of wire once. And since the wire spools that came with the machine are pretty much full with a previous owner's stuff...I don't use it much. I guess I need a tape degausser to bulk-erase my wire spools.
"Jeweller, you've failed. Jeweller."

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signorMars
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Post by signorMars » Tue Aug 25, 2009 9:34 am

so far recording hasn't been an issue, since if i erased/recorded over anything, that would be a very BAD thing and quite contrary to the archiving! one nice thing is that there is an extra head assembly in the box of wires, so i have a backup if i need it.
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ross ingram
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emrr
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Post by emrr » Tue Aug 25, 2009 10:13 am

Find and replace the cap feeding the record head immediately, if you ever hope to record with this thing. DC leakage is known to take out the record head in these things.

I have one that also takes several passes to achieve acceptable erasure of previous material.
Doug Williams
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signorMars
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Post by signorMars » Tue Aug 25, 2009 11:41 am

Thanks Doug! I was hoping I might get some helpful tech tips like that. I found a site online that gave good information on how to maintain the mechanical elements, but it didn't give much electronic info.
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ross ingram
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