3440 head assessment

[fazeka]

Got the seller to provide some pics of the heads and the tape lifters for a Teac 3440 I am interested in.

I'm no expert but these seem worn more than I'd expect from the claimed recording of 6 or so reels, even with lots of shuttling? Seller said he used the machine on and off for about 10 years from new.

Not sure if the head gap is flat there or if it's the angle and/or the light. I'm suspect the heads are probably quite worn considering the lifter wear - I wasn't expecting the lifters to look so worn.

What do y'all think?

TIA!

 

[sweetbeats]

Actually that looks like lower than average mileage to me. If the lifters were cleaned they’d look better. It needs a new pinch roller. And clearly the current owner doesn’t know how to keep it clean…the aforementioned lifters and good golly the capstan shaft. Wow. But the heads look okay to me. Take it with a big grain of salt because the worst way to evaluate heads is to get an opinion from a stranger over pictures. The only way to truly evaluate heads is under magnification and comparing current tip depth to original tip depth, and/or comparing each coil’s current inductance to known inductance range when new.