Bad Video -- Good Machine! Lanier Microcassette 60 Restoration

Visit ClydeSight Productions at:

http://www.clydesight.com

A YouTube subscriber Dan purchased a Lanier Microcassette 60 vintage tape recorder on E-Bay. Of course, when the machine arrived, it would not work. This is so often the problem on E-Bay. He got his money back, but was told to keep the machine, and because it seemed so unique, he decided to go further and have it professionally restored.

He found ClydeSight Channel on You Tube and then... well, the video tells the story, so take a look!

The video presented here is a rebuild itself! The original video I made documented the ENTIRE restoration for Dan and ran over 30 minutes, going into special details and instructions specific to his situation. Unfortunately, shortly after making that video and getting it to Dan, my computer was attacked by a virus and some of my video files were corrupted!

As fate would have it, this happened just prior to my making a backup copy.

I recovered my computer from the virus, but the poor master video file was severely damaged. I have spent quite some time trying to restore it because this machine is so unique and has such interesting engineering that I wanted to make a public video on YouTube to educate and inspire other tape recorder enthusiasts.

The result of my efforts is here. If you have the patience to put up with the poor video quality and the many artifacts, you will be rewarded with knowledge and understanding, perhaps even some inspiration from this unique piece of audio technology history.

Thank you for watching!

*********************

Copyright Disclaimer:

This is an educational video, a critique, and report on an historic piece of vintage audio electronic equipment that is no longer manufactured or sold in stores. It is covered by the Fair Use Section of U.S. Copyright Law:

"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

The opening and closing music featured in this video is a selection from ClydeSight Production's CD album or original synthesizer music, "Symphonia Felina and Other Mewsical Masterworks". The piece is called "The Lion's Den". ClydeSight Production's retains ALL rights, of composition, performance and distribution of this music.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• clydesight
• Lanier
• microcassette
• vintage
• cassette
• tape
• recorder

[netsurferx1]

That looks like it was an absolute nightmare to restore, but quite good sound, all things considered.

[clydesight]

@netsurferx1

Thanks for your comment! It was a bit of a puzzler at first!

[BadEditPro]

That is a really interesting machine! A great video even with the technical glitches. Great work, as usual. :) JC

[clydesight]

@BadEditPro Thanks JC.

[goldbergje]

Thanks, clydesight, though you'd disappeared! :)

[clydesight]

@CassetteMaster I agree, it would be amazing to go back in time (where is Doctor Who when you need him?) and sit in on the design meetings for these companies. It may seem like a joke, but back then, a lot of folks had "4 martini lunches". I often wonder if that were true in the design of some of these machines! They got very creative and just plain weird i.e. the Miny 6-0-1 reversing rim drive unit. Or the record player/rim drive recorder I've seen on YT.

[clydesight]

@CassetteMaster HI, thanks for your kind words. Gosh, I wish I knew where I got those rubber bands! They came in a big package and I have never seen the like again in any stores. It might have been in a specialty store I was wander through, can not remember, dang! You CAN sometimes use different sized plumber's "O" rings from a hardware store for some belts. My ACE hardware has a HUGE selection of the things.

[clydesight]

@CoolDudeClem Hi, Thanks for your kind comments. Yes, analog has definite4 advantages in some cases. I never thought of using a potato as a video camera. Do I look for stereo potatoes or just regular ones? How about 3-D HD potatoes? I think those come in cans!

It looks like the drive belt is acting as a gear, but actually, it runs a pulley (clutch system) just underneath the gear. My potato camera just didn't have the definition to show that clearly.

[CoolDudeClem]

Believe me I've seen worse quality videos, I'm sure some people record their vids on a potato! At least analog technology is at least reliable. That's very strange how the controls are layed out, and this must be the first time I've seen a drive where the belt itself is used as a gear even tho it doesn't have teeth. Great work on the restoration.

[CassetteMaster]

@clydesight It would sure be fascinating to know all the behind the scenes. I would love to know the original companies that made some of the machines, such as those off-brand machines, rim-drives, and so forth. It would be neat to see original drafts of the designs, and how the engineers thought up of some of the designs. For instance, one transport design I see in many GE cassette recorders of the early 80s (i. e. the 3-5151B) is very well-made. The design is very stable and reliable.

[CassetteMaster]

Very nice little recorder! I like the green high-quality rubber band. Do you know where you bought those rubber bands? I want to buy some. I liked the video, and the way of using titles to announce the features and stuff was cool. The quality of that machine is quite good, for sure must be AC bias.