388 repair!

[svenagain]

hello there
got a working 388 last month (an aquaintence was spring cleaning and gave it to me!). everything seemed to be working fine until a couple of days ago. i was rewinding a tape when it stopped on its own. seems the right hand tape spindle is jamed some how. now it wont play, rewind, fast forward, or even move manually. can this be fixed easily or is this a major problem? i have little experience with tape machines and am not brave enough to open this thing myself. if i have to get someone to repair it can anybody suggest a shop in the atlanta, ga area?(does anybody work on 388's anymore?)
thanx

 

[technoplayer]

Seems a lot of problems with the 388 are due to blown fuses. The fuses are located under the top cover on the right hand side, where the air vent slots are. That said, if a fuse blew, there is an underlying cause. Overload of the transport can possibly occur if the wrong type thickness is used constantly, or there is some drag in the tape path. Check the fuses, clean and lube the transport, take two aspirin, call back in the morning

 

[A Reel Person]

I've seen 388 fuses blow for no reason,...

other than old age. I've also seen where a fuse did not "blow", but the filament broke from physical movement,... also due to old age.

The fuses bear checking out first, in a problem described as such.

I have 4 388's, and as I remember, 2 of them had fuse issues with no other larger problem, whatsoever. Sounds funny, I know, but it's true. The fuses may fail in large part due to old age.