Reel Tape Recorder Bespoke Restoration By Alter Ego Appearance

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Technics RS-1520 ....... Ready To Get Global Reel Award, Bespoke Restoration By Alter Ego Appearance

OpenReelToReel Hub has an affiliate relationship with Alter Ego Appearance, a professional tape deck restoration company. They do quality restoration work, stand behind their product and ship them to customers the right way. All Technics reel to reel players available for purchase are professionally restored. The return of the most delicate, but most considered, kind of audio format for a true audiophile. The most dubious audiophiles know the truth about reel-to-reel tape.

Technics RS-1520 Open Reel Tape Recorder - A Totally Rebuild Tape Machine Like No Others

The Technics 1520 has long been regarded as one of the prized tape decks. Impeccable consideration to the points only the most meticulous of audiophiles would understand. Below is a description of this one of a kind rebuild.

REEL MOTORS
Reel motors totally disassembled. Plastic tridents, which are a subject to break easily, are replaced with metal tridents made from non-magnetic aluminum bronze. Bronze bearings inside motors cleaned, filled with lubricant. Brake drums removed from the shaft, old paint stripped. Repainted with glossy hard scratch resistant high temp paint. Quality of this paint is crucial for proper brakes. Table painted to base machine color. Shaft assembly with brake drums and tridents balanced. Motors assembled.

CAPSTAN
Capstan motor disassembled, cleaned. Aluminum cup removed and replaced with another one made from nonmagnetic aluminum bronze. Precisely machined and polished. Bearings replaced with original NOS NSK(made in Japan) bearings. Incredibly silent. Capstan assembled, installed.

VU METERS
Old aluminum background sheets removed. Scanned with precision scanner. New graphic file suitable for laser engraving created. Replaced with non magnetic copper sheets, laser engraved, painted to base machine color. Graphics 24K gold plated. Black paint from arrows removed, arrows painted with fluorescent paint (0xBD09F5 color).

HEAD BLOCK
Head block disassembled. Plate stripped, cleaned, painted to base machine color. New metal letterings and some metal accents applied. Heads had incredibly low usage, relapped & polished under water. Resoldered, realigned. Head block reassembled. 4t-2t switch disassembled, cleaned, reassembled.

TAPE COUNTER
Large 128x22px screen with bright YELLOW pixels. Powered by SSD1305 and Teensy4.0 (600MHz) controllers. Auto scaling with speed switch on left panel. With memory on power off. Prewired for future installation of WiFi remote control and programming block. Screen installed on totally reengineered counter and cue plate , 3D printed on Formlabs3+ printer from high temp resin, powder coated to base machine color. New reset switch and precisely machined button installed. CUE functionality untouched.

CONTROL BUTTONS
Control buttons block disassembled, Plastic buttons replaced with CNC machined aluminum, powder coated to base color. REC, PAUSE and PLAY buttons have light bulbs under which are visible in corresponding mode through symbols.

TAPE PATH
All bearings were replaced with original NOS NSK. All parts polished, replaced with non magnetic aluminium bronze where possible, realigned. Some decorative parts were added.

CONNECTORS
All back connectors replaced with gold plated. AC cord connector added. All visible metal parts are hand made from non magnetic aluminum bronze polished.

A FEW words about METAL.
Aluminum bronze C62400 composition contains up to 11.5% of aluminum, which creates protective oxide film almost immediately after polishing. Will remain shiny for a long time. Color is slightly darker than gold by design. Needless to say all letterings are made from the same metal, 0.75mm raised. Splicing block fully functional with spring loaded levers. Cuts for blades are made for 22.5 and 45 deg for right and left handed peoples.
Insert for lower panel levers also CNC machined from C62400, polished. Also, needless to say, but, the deck is fully recapped and readjusted. All old Philips bolts were replaced with new HEX just to make future maintenance easy. Lubricated, aligned.

Side panels are made from African Rosewood AKA Palisander (while machining smells like roses it's funny). Treated with special blend oil, polished.
Each flange on side panels has engraving "Technics RS-1520".

About Alter Ego Appearance

Alter Ego Appearance combines art with technical skill. Custom would be an understatement as each machine is its own new creation. Providing complete rebuilds and custom modifications, Alter Ego Appearance brings tape deck restoration to the next level. Creating brand new front panels, jewelry grade metal lettering, powder coating, 3D printing, coding for custom modifications and much more. No two machines will ever be identical. Every single part of the tape decks are rebuilt; brand new front panels (from scratch), switches, head blocks, caps, motors, EVERYTHING is rebuilt! It is basically a brand new machine. Each custom restoration is completed with your input. For more information visit https://www.alteregoappearance.com

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