Double plus good Tape find!

[Hxt1]

Whoa! My lucky Craigslist day!
I found a person selling "40 Opera reel to reel tapes, $1 each"
When I emailed, she told me I was first to contact her, and three others were waiting, so did I want 'em or not?
Turns out she had four boxes full of reels, I went and bought the boxes.
27 double-set operas, 14 'blank' home -recorded tapes, and 34 classical tapes! I've gone through them and all are in great condition, 6 are sealed! Ironically, I own two titles already, the real bonus is that there are some great titles there. The Oistrakh Bruch Scottish Fantasia, is one, there are tons of london, living stereo, and DG's, as well as a handful of 3 3/4 ips Angel titles.
I'm not a fan of opera, but I good chunk of the Classical tapes appeal to me.
No 2 tracks, but I'm not complaining!

Lucky number 2 was a Revox G36, "2 track stereo reel to reel machine, all tube, by Willi Studer, $190"
I thought this could be my dream machine! A functioning 15ips 2 track, BUT... it's the 'low speed' model.. Where this gets interesting is the fellow and I talked audio for awhile, and he's willing to trade the machine for some tubes I have kicking around, and some work on a baldwin amp he has! (installing 1/4" mono inputs/outputs)!
He's also interested in my single ended guitar amps! So it looks to be the beginning of a fun, fun year!
I'll be posting some pics of the '36 soon, the spring loaded part of the cine-spindle is missing on the right hand reel table, but luckily I have a spare from my Pr99 road case... crazy!
I'm getting closer, and closer to my dream of having a 2 track hi speed machine soon, once I get this last bug worked out on the '99, I think I'll be cooking!
I managed to get lucky and snag a couple of dozen 7.5 ips 2 tracks for 'sane' prices on ebay this last week, as well... so I'm waiting patiently for the mail man every day to give me my first tast of two track stereo tape....!
cheers and happy new years,
Harv

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

What a great way to end a year! Congrats Harv!

 

[Hxt1]

Oh boy!
Just got the G36 home, I'ts a beaut! And man, did it ever sound good in the studio!! I opened up the back of it, and it's looking cleaner than the Nagra!
unfortunately, it is only a 7.5/3.75 ips model, and modding it to hi speed is a bit of an undertaking, so once again, I'm left wanting.
BUT.. I now have a machine capable of playing my 2 track tapes which are coming in the mail...yayyy!
I've been lucky as of late, I just hope this streak continues, and I can get that Pr99 working or get my little mitts on a decent 1/2 track (and 1/4 track)? 15ips capable machine!
C'mon lady luck!

Who knows, maybe I can scare up a trade, or get that darned Ampex out in the garage working!
Anyhoo... I'm finding some gems in that stack of 4 tracks, but the opera is going to have to go
.

 

[MylesBAstor]

Oh boy!
Just got the G36 home, I'ts a beaut! And man, did it ever sound good in the studio!! I opened up the back of it, and it's looking cleaner than the Nagra!
unfortunately, it is only a 7.5/3.75 ips model, and modding it to hi speed is a bit of an undertaking, so once again, I'm left wanting.
BUT.. I now have a machine capable of playing my 2 track tapes which are coming in the mail...yayyy!
I've been lucky as of late, I just hope this streak continues, and I can get that Pr99 working or get my little mitts on a decent 1/2 track (and 1/4 track)? 15ips capable machine!
C'mon lady luck!

Who knows, maybe I can scare up a trade, or get that darned Ampex out in the garage working!
Anyhoo... I'm finding some gems in that stack of 4 tracks, but the opera is going to have to go
.

Or a C37

 

[flez007]

Not sure if the best event was the hardware or the music, at any rate congratulations!

 

[Mark (Basspig) Weiss]

This reminds me that I have about 100 pre-recorded open reel 1/4 track 7" tapes, mostly of easy listening, big band/percussion, and a very few that are 60s rock. Majority are in the 1959-61 era. I wonder what a collection like that is worth? I was told 'not much' because they aren't 1/2 track. Back in 1983, I typed up a list of all the tape titles, which I think I have somewhere in word processor form now. Maybe I should pursue the sale of them once again?

 

[Hxt1]

This reminds me that I have about 100 pre-recorded open reel 1/4 track 7" tapes, mostly of easy listening, big band/percussion, and a very few that are 60s rock. Majority are in the 1959-61 era. I wonder what a collection like that is worth? I was told 'not much' because they aren't 1/2 track. Back in 1983, I typed up a list of all the tape titles, which I think I have somewhere in word processor form now. Maybe I should pursue the sale of them once again?

It's funny, those 2 tracks do go for silly silly $$$! But we all know why!
The 4 track stuff is getting pretty pricey (IMHO), it seems to fluctuate rather wildly, one of my favorite 4 tracks , Sketches of Spain,is a good example. I picked up my copy (pretty well mint) for $48. It's one of the best 'sounding' 4 tracks I have. I've seen it go for $150, 70, and even $50 for the same tape in the same month.
My KOB set me back $240! But I'm hopeless when it comes to that title.
Time Out is another one that's all over the place. I've gotten two different copies. Both were under $50, but I've seen it go for over $150!!
I think the prices are still figuring themselves out.
Classic rock, and jazz tend to be pricey in 4 track, classical is more hot and miss.
I often see titles that have been re released on Classic etc. sell cheaper than their 'new' vinyl counterparts.
I'm in the process of paring down and re-focusing my vinyl and tape collection.
I look at some of the stuff I have, and even though I know odds are I'm really not going to be listening to it, I can't let it go.
Weird, that.

 

[Mark (Basspig) Weiss]

It's hard to tell what is a hit and what is not. I have a list that I typed in assiduously on company time on their Lanier word processor back in '83 and printed out on their Diablo 630 daisywheel printer. I've scanned it and run it through OCR software some years back and it's still on my Word archived docs folder of stuff I haven't opened in over ten years. Maybe I should publish the list? Or put each tape, one at a time on eBay?

 

[Hxt1]

It's hard to tell what is a hit and what is not. I have a list that I typed in assiduously on company time on their Lanier word processor back in '83 and printed out on their Diablo 630 daisywheel printer. I've scanned it and run it through OCR software some years back and it's still on my Word archived docs folder of stuff I haven't opened in over ten years. Maybe I should publish the list? Or put each tape, one at a time on eBay?

What I've been doing, is listing the tapes I know I do not care for and won't listen to.
I just list them at $7-9, and if they sell they sell. Some go for $8 , some go for $40.
But those tapes didn't really cost me anything.
This is my first experience selling tapes, I'd personally rather trade them.
I've only sold maybe a dozen, with taking pics, posting listings etc, it's tedious, and honestly I'm not much of a marketeer. I'd rather trade the whole lot to an opera buff for somethIng I can tinker with/ enjoy listening to.