[morzh]

All tape recorders, including big bobbin types, used rubber pinch rollers. Unless some used maybe neoprene which I never saw.

[Arran]

Arran

Well, I'm impressed...especially the 1975 Newport... You should start a new topic in the Bar & Grill and post some photos of it.

How well are your 8-tracks holding up? I remember "back in the day" the foam pressure pads behind the tape in the cartridge would wear out quickly...and this was when the cartridges were merely months old. Plus the occasional tape breaking...now that they are decades old, how are they doing?

Ron;
  Once I repair an eight track cartridge they seem to hold up just fine, but it is not really plug and play user friendly since almost all of them do need to be repaired, and it's not a job for anyone that hate restringing dial cords. I usually remove the foam pressure pads as I repair them, many used a black foam that when it breaks down it becomes gummy, which is bad news should some of those sticky chunks work their way into the tape reel inside, often they are unnecesary for playing the tape but there are exceptions. The ones that used a grey foam seem to hold up better for some reason. Strangely enough there were many carts that used a pair of felt pressure pads that were glued onto a silicon bronze spring, RCA and Ampex carts used to use that type, about all you have to do with those is either glue the pads back on or replace them with new felt.
  It isn't usually the tape itself that breaks so much as the foil splice that joins the two ends comes off with age, though if the splice breaks at the wrong time the machine will keep drawing the tape and the tape will get drwan into the machine, sometimes kinked up like an accordion. Unless the tape jams whilst the capstan keeps drwaing the tape out, or it gets wrapped around the capstan itself, the tape does not usally break. Whatever glue they used seems to crystallize and then fall right off the tape, it seems to be water based like the glue they use on envelopes. What I use as a substitute is that aluminum duct tape, not the plastic Red Green/Macgiver stuff but the stuff for heating and AC ducts, the glue they use does not dry out, and the aluminum conducts which is what you need to trigger the track changing solenoid.
  Regarding the pinch rollers and whether the tires disintegrate or not, well it depends on which manufacturer made the cartridge and when. From what I have noticed certain years of Ampex and GRT made cartridges have problems with the pinch rollers either disolving into black goo or becoming crumbly, so those two companies must have used pinch rollers made from natural rubber that was not vulcanized properly, if at all. Fortunately most companies used some sort of synthetic rubber on the pinch roller tires, in some cases they would make a solid plastic pinch roller to cut costs, either way there are no problems with either type deteriorating, though the plastic ones can slip. One thing I did find out is that the Ampex carts with the rotting pinch rollers used rollers of the same dimensions as an RCA cartridge, so a good source of replacements is a junker RCA cartridge, or one that you don't care for.
Regards
Arran
 

[Fred Taylor]

I went to an record store in garland TX, that's a Dallas suburb and this vintage record store has all the oldies in order just like when records were being sold and I came across these wonderful LP,s that were never played that I can tell. There went even a finger print any where and the plastic jackets where still folded over. If they were played I cant tell. Any way im going to go back and see if there are more years to the set that I didn't see. They sound great on my stereo system, Your hit parade 1945- the 50,s. They have been digitally remastered from Time life music. I got to try them with my new turntable technics SL-1300, The power is supplied buy a  Sony STR-DR935 receiver and speakers are 1970,s BIG fisher floor studio speakers. The sound is incredible , I still listen to recordings from late 50,s thru 70,s. I love the BIG BANDS that where coming out when HI FI and stereo recordings where being made, these time life records sound much better than any cd you can buy. Picture of my 1942 zenith that I had restored last year. Sounds pretty good for what it is

[TA Forbes]

My Scott 800B makes the scratched 78s sound mah-velous!

[Ron Ramirez]

I picked up a few more LPs at POPS Resale in Lexington, KY on Friday. They only had one Nat King Cole and I grabbed it, along with a couple more Jackie Gleason Mid Century mood music LPs as well as two other Mid Century era LPs; one by Perez Prado and one by Edmundo Ros. I couldn't pass up the latter due to the title - "Hi-Fi-Esta."

Two things I really like about POPS - their large selection, and the fact that they have listening booths so you can try a record out before you buy it, so you know what you are getting. If I lived in or near Lexington, I would be a regular POPS customer!

I'll have to see if any of the used record stores in Louisville have listening booths. None of the used record stores I've ever been to in Evansville had any. And these days, I'd rather go to Louisville than Evansville since there is more in Louisville and it isn't much farther from where I live than Evansville is.

[Paul Philco322]

I picked up a mint condition Porter Wagoners Greatest for .99 th eother day. Some discs were broken in their jackets, others looked like used for frisbees but some this store had looked new.

PAul

[thirtiesradio]

Picked up several jazz and many 40's-50's easy listening LP's on Friday at an estate sale. They were only asking 50 cents each and they are in near mint condition. Getting difficult to find anything in excellent or above condition.

[thirtiesradio]

I picked up a few more LPs at POPS Resale in Lexington, KY on Friday. They only had one Nat King Cole and I grabbed it, along with a couple more Jackie Gleason Mid Century mood music LPs as well as two other Mid Century era LPs; one by Perez Prado and one by Edmundo Ros. I couldn't pass up the latter due to the title - "Hi-Fi-Esta."

Two things I really like about POPS - their large selection, and the fact that they have listening booths so you can try a record out before you buy it, so you know what you are getting. If I lived in or near Lexington, I would be a regular POPS customer!

I'll have to see if any of the used record stores in Louisville have listening booths. None of the used record stores I've ever been to in Evansville had any. And these days, I'd rather go to Louisville than Evansville since there is more in Louisville and it isn't much farther from where I live than Evansville is.

Any time I find a Nat King Cole in decent condition I grab it. Nat Cole and Ray Charles are on my "always buy" list.

[mikethedruid]

Vinyl ? Of course, as well as shellac and clay 78s on my Victrola; but for REAL entertainment I listen to WAX on my Edison Opera model...
[Image: https://41.media.tumblr.com/716ff1efff38...1_1280.jpg]

[morzh]

Well....just got my Near Mint Goldberg Variations by Maria Tipo shipped to me from Italy.

This weekend it will be transferred to a compact cassette, a Metal, using my Nakamichi ZX9. And then I will listen the heck out of it.

[TV MAN]

With Christmas just around the corner, I finally dug out an old console stereo that I stored when the kids were younger, after I caught our toddler pushing the speaker grill cloth in ...   !!! After getting fed up with the crappy music on the radio, I started picking up some old records at the local resale stores. Thought I'd pick up a couple dozen old Gospel albums. Nothing is that simple! Before I knew it, I had over 100 in many flavors. I brought the old stereo back out, upped it over several days, ordered a new needle, lubed and have it working. Still needs more cleaning, lube, idler and tlc. But, its playing those Christmas records
   
It is hard to beat the sound of those old console stereos from the 1960's. It is a sound I grew up with, and had mostly forgotten until I powered this baby up. Even my wife mentioned how good it sounded!

[Ron Ramirez]

I was in Barnes & Noble yesterday to use a Christmas gift card.

They have converted an entire wall of their CD/DVD/Blu-ray room to display and sell 12 inch vinyl LPs. They also had another, smaller, LP display downstairs on the main floor.

I was impressed. It was almost like stepping back in time, seeing actual new records for sale again. Didn't buy any...but yes, I was impressed.

[morzh]

They sell old or new "remastered" ones? There seems to be lots of those now. I guess it is still a good thing.

[Ron Ramirez]

All of the records at B&N are brand new. Somewhat expensive too.

It was especially strange to see a brand new Frank Sinatra LP that was probably released originally in the late 1950s or early 1960s on Capitol...before Sinatra started the Reprise label. Original Capitol artwork and all.

I also saw some "remastered" 180 gram Beatles LPs on the original British Parlophone/EMI label.

[morzh]

I would welcome reissued org prints; as for the remastered....well, many were printed while vinyl was still in place, in 80s, I was not a phan of those.