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DamienC
New member
Short version: I need a new capstan motor and belt for my Tascam 488mkII. The belts are all over eBay, but does anyone know where I could purchase a motor? I've replaced the belt on another 488 before and I'm pretty good with a soldering iron so I'm confident I can do all the work.
TL;DR Story:
I moved into a new house in October of 2013. When I moved in, I had moved a bunch of recording equipment (including my beloved 488) into one of the attic crawlspaces until I had my recording space cleared out. Stupid, stupid move on my part, but this was my first house and I didn't think anything of it. Of course, everything took longer than expected and I also was working a lot of overtime so I couldn't find time to get my stuff out. Then in August of this year, my house became infested with a colony of bats. Once we got some pest control agents to remove the bats, I got the lovely news that everything in the crawlspaces was covered in bat guano, and that the guano was also potentially toxic. Freaking awesome.
I had pulled everything out and had the crawlspace sealed about a month ago, but just got around to cleaning the 488 yesterday. I cannot believe how filthy it was. A ridiculous amount of guano ended up INSIDE the damn thing, probably aided by the 3000 or so formerly live bugs I found inside the unit. I did also extract one very large very alive spider; I allowed him to live because he probably killed all the other bugs who were eating the bat waste.
Fortunately, the unit cleaned up very well after going over it with Simple Green, rubbing alcohol, Lysol disinfectant wipes and about a million Q-tips. The tape door latch only works half the time now, but eventually it catches and stays shut. All functions of the mixer seem to be working, as do all the important buttons. I threw in one of the last tapes I recorded on and it still sounds great, although the tape was slow to start at first and there's now a loud buzzing noise coming from the motor (hence my asking about the motor and belts).
Just felt like sharing a story and to warn people. Don't store your favorite hard-to-find analog tape recorder in a crawlspace that bats can access.
TL;DR Story:
I moved into a new house in October of 2013. When I moved in, I had moved a bunch of recording equipment (including my beloved 488) into one of the attic crawlspaces until I had my recording space cleared out. Stupid, stupid move on my part, but this was my first house and I didn't think anything of it. Of course, everything took longer than expected and I also was working a lot of overtime so I couldn't find time to get my stuff out. Then in August of this year, my house became infested with a colony of bats. Once we got some pest control agents to remove the bats, I got the lovely news that everything in the crawlspaces was covered in bat guano, and that the guano was also potentially toxic. Freaking awesome.
I had pulled everything out and had the crawlspace sealed about a month ago, but just got around to cleaning the 488 yesterday. I cannot believe how filthy it was. A ridiculous amount of guano ended up INSIDE the damn thing, probably aided by the 3000 or so formerly live bugs I found inside the unit. I did also extract one very large very alive spider; I allowed him to live because he probably killed all the other bugs who were eating the bat waste.
Fortunately, the unit cleaned up very well after going over it with Simple Green, rubbing alcohol, Lysol disinfectant wipes and about a million Q-tips. The tape door latch only works half the time now, but eventually it catches and stays shut. All functions of the mixer seem to be working, as do all the important buttons. I threw in one of the last tapes I recorded on and it still sounds great, although the tape was slow to start at first and there's now a loud buzzing noise coming from the motor (hence my asking about the motor and belts).
Just felt like sharing a story and to warn people. Don't store your favorite hard-to-find analog tape recorder in a crawlspace that bats can access.
