Ot...
As you guys may know, I've been selling a lot of stuff to make ends meet. As my gear storage goes deep, it's been quite a nice alternative for me. Not only do I need the extra money, but it's been a good way to simplify my life, as well as moving some unused equipment onto someone who's really going to use it. I've gone thru several of the recorders so far, and the buyers have been uniformly happy.
Anyway, I've sold (2) M30 mixers so far, (as well as a whole variety of stuff), and I have 1 more M30 to sell, while I'll keep the last one for myself. One M30 mixer I knew was in a large flight case in a stack of stuff in the garage. A very large and heavy case it was. When I dug it out of the stack, turned it over and opened it up,... YEAH! Sandwiched into the case upon foam was a very clean and minty 244! Don't ask me how I must have forgotten it was in there!
The quick version of the story (?) is that I tested the capstan & hub motors without a tape, by depressing the cassette-in microswitch. All seemed well. By the time I located a tape to test the unit, the Play motion had ceased and the capstan had stopped. Fortunately, I had an 11.7" flat belt in a bin in the garage, so I replaced it. The original belt was extremely stretched out and flaccid. It apparently had just enough rotations left in it for that quick spin test, before it simply slipped down and off... faster than my pants on a Friday night! OMG, I just had to say that! How often do you get to use that line?
After a quick replacement of the main belt, the hidden 244 from the mystery case tested out completely. I was very pleased! Not only is it a great unit to do recordings on as the mood strikes, but if I feel in a pinch I know I can turn it over for at least $150, if it really comes down to it. The buttons are slightly yellowed, but it's in really good condition and tested great! I like happy, fortunate suprises like that.
Mental note that I have to find a source of a few new belts for my various fixit gear, of which there's many! I fix things as I go along, and mostly by necessity, but the fairly good cache of belts I had is depleted. I was getting them at a place called Electronic City in Burbank, and some at Fry's Electronics, but I've not been to either place in years. I hope they still have belts, if at all, this late in the game! I'd hate to have to go to eBay to pay scalper's prices on belts, just caus some other techy guy bought a big stash of stuff and I didn't! (but I will do whatever I need to do to fix this gear, on & on!) Belts used to be fairly common and easy to find. I'm not sure about that anymore.
Found-old-gear is like having new gear!
