Restoring a wire recorder

[clintrubber]

Hello,

There's an old wire recorder for sale here: Webster Chicago 180-5.
While I actually don't need another project, the thing looks fun.

As the interweb makes me believe, the coloring of recorded sound is a different taste than tape.
It's however untested. Possibly more of a museum piece.

On to my question: for those that happen to have hands on such old stuff, what's most likely, some or massive mechanical fixes required (then I'll skip),
or possibly just some straightforward electronic fixes? That'll obviously be not any guarantee, but just curious to eventual experiences with these kind of machines.

Thanks!

 

[Tubetec]

I only ever had one enquirey about a wire recorder , relating to an odd ball connector called a Jones plug ,
I doubt the recorded sound quality matches tape , finding the wire in good condition might be another difficulty .
Head wear also , chances of getting replacement parts could be hit or miss .
There probably is some usable parts inside , like tubes, mains and output tx , but tearing it all down would probably be a shame ,
Its a nice looking piece and Im sure would make a nice display , getting it working properly could take time and effort .
If it has seperate rec/play amps and the ability to monitor off-tape it could function as a delay line , which might be interesting .
Maybe try and find a schematic to see better what your dealing with before making up your mind .
Schematic for a similar found here ,
https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/webster_electronic_memory_wire_r.html

 

[clintrubber]

Thanks for the response & for the schematic, had found that, no idea how different the 180-1 and 180-5 models are, but I figure they'll be at least somewhat comparable.

Lots of switch-contacts that can go wrong
The 'poor' sound-quality can be part of the attraction, but possibly 'poor' only rarely translates into 'character' and remains just 'rotten'...

 

[JohnRoberts]

I recall my stepbrother had a wire recorder back in the 50s/60s. IIRC it seemed like a toy, probably transistor.

JR

 

[clintrubber]

I got triggered on these kind of recording machines when reading about a DAW VST plugin modelling a certain type of wire recorder, with added goodies, for 'own unique kind of sound coloring'.
(Was also a solid state model, unlike this probably earlier one from the pics.)
Then out of curiosity I went looking for one and ran into this one. Lots that can go wrong I understand, I figure if I still want one in some years they'll be in a comparable (broken) state as they are now today already . So can get me one when there's more likelyhood of actually restoring it.

Thanks for the responses again.

 

[emrr]

The lack of bias means they are very lo-fi with high distortion, instant 1930 radio sound. I haven't found one with mechanical problems yet. Some take a bit of warmup time to run. The #1 maintenance thing is to replace the caps connected to the head, as the record function is frequently dead from DC leakage to the head. Most will still play. Headwear? I don't know that it matters. Wire is a pain in the ass if it tangles. Tying a knot in a break is the repair method. A tangled wire spool is almost useless/hopeless.

 

[Dreams]

I'm in the process of restoring one of those at the moment, though it's been a lower priority than my day to day work. Apparently my grandfather had one and used it to record his kids a bit, in addition to some audio tests from his job at the train car plant, so i have a collection of spools that need digitizing

Anyway, they're pretty simple, but the sound is better than you'd think. I always felt there'd be limited utility in a modern recording environment; the speed is inconsistent enough that syncing anything recorded on it to anything else would be tricky

There's not a whole lot inside. Most of those models have very similar circuits. Try to find the schematic that most closely resembles your model and then go in and gut the thing piece by piece, making notes on the schematic as you go. Almost everything in mine was bad, i imagine a lot of them are in a similar condition and will need most caps and resistors replaced

Mechanically, there's only so much you can do, or need to do. I broke it all down as far as possible, which was not far, then cleaned and relubed moving parts. I got the drive rollers re-rubbered by Terry's, which I'd absolutely recommend doing. The Play/Stop/Rewing switch is easy enough to clean if you need to. The front panel controls are easily replaceable with the exception of the switch with the bias coil mounted on it, clean that one

The head is what it is. Check it for rust pitting and dirt, but in my limited experience, wear isn't really a thing? I find thread to be a good tool for cleaning them. Just dip some in isopropyl and work it back and forth across it. If there's more damage, put a tiny bit of very fine polishing compound on the thread to buff it out. Then clean, obviously

That's all i can think of right now, I really should get to finishing mine up!

 

[Ivan K.]

I have a working Webster-Chicago wire recorder of your vintage. It has been stored for a bunch of years--I think I bought it at a thrift store. It works fine. One of the wire spools has a recording of a presidential debate between Truman & Dewey(?), recorded from a radio. It sounds like a good AM station. I have never opened it, but will be doing so as I am trying to reclaim some space and want to sell it. I may replace the PS caps and check for leaky caps, etc. Dreams response seems on the money. Let me know if anyone wants some photos and I'll drag it out of storage.

 

[clintrubber]

Thanks all for the responses and experiences. I skipped this one which was for sale here, the seller couldn't tell much about its state, so I convinced myself it'd be better not adding it to the existing pile of projects.

Might ran into another one day, or for grins will check out that VST plugin that's out there (and may be overdoing its ruin-the-sound probably, don't know yet). Nevertheless, thanks again for the info & experiences, interesting to read.