Broke out my childhood Walkman 2 years ago after sitting for 4 years. I think it held a slight grudge at me for abandoning it. Excessive wow and flutter, not wanting to change directions of the tape on its own and an annoying speed variation during playback.
Right away I got new belts which cured the auto-reverse issue. I adjusted the tape speed and cleaned the heck out of the transport system capstan, pinch rollers, etc..
After showing my baby some love she started to sing again but still had some emotional scars. W/F still slightly present and a speed issue (slowing down) but I could tap the rear cover and it would speed back up. Drove me nuts but it was tolerable.
Played around with it for a while adjusting this and tweaking that...then took it back apart and oiled it. Started coming around but still had that annoying speed issue. So I lived with it for the last year and showed it that I didn't have plans to tuck it away in the closet ever again.
Ok. So fast forward a year later to now. I was listening to it in my car a few days ago and it slurred to a complete stop....Nothing. Took it apart again and found a tiny screw that had worked loose and was stuck under the forward capstan drive pulley. Pried it out with my pocket knife and couldn't for the life of me figure out where it went. I broke a wire that required soldering while flexing the circuit board out of the way. Fixed that after driving home....sadly in silence :-(
After the screw fell out it now plays PERFECT!!!! She just had a screw loose...lol. This thing has truly been like a relationship with a woman. I had to show some love for a while to show I was faithful but now I am forgiven!!!! Took a video of the Panny playing better than I can ever remember. Just goes to show how sitting and not using is worse than a daily play-fest....
The link below will take you to my Dropbox account for playback. If a sign up window appears just click "No Thanks" at the bottom to proceed to watch and/or download (better quality picture and sound if downloaded). I think I would (at this time) put this walkman up against almost any in regards to playback quality.
Let me know what y'all think? Video Link Below:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p12l1xdoqlq161j/20170524_161534.mp4?dl=0
Right away I got new belts which cured the auto-reverse issue. I adjusted the tape speed and cleaned the heck out of the transport system capstan, pinch rollers, etc..
After showing my baby some love she started to sing again but still had some emotional scars. W/F still slightly present and a speed issue (slowing down) but I could tap the rear cover and it would speed back up. Drove me nuts but it was tolerable.
Played around with it for a while adjusting this and tweaking that...then took it back apart and oiled it. Started coming around but still had that annoying speed issue. So I lived with it for the last year and showed it that I didn't have plans to tuck it away in the closet ever again.
Ok. So fast forward a year later to now. I was listening to it in my car a few days ago and it slurred to a complete stop....Nothing. Took it apart again and found a tiny screw that had worked loose and was stuck under the forward capstan drive pulley. Pried it out with my pocket knife and couldn't for the life of me figure out where it went. I broke a wire that required soldering while flexing the circuit board out of the way. Fixed that after driving home....sadly in silence :-(
After the screw fell out it now plays PERFECT!!!! She just had a screw loose...lol. This thing has truly been like a relationship with a woman. I had to show some love for a while to show I was faithful but now I am forgiven!!!! Took a video of the Panny playing better than I can ever remember. Just goes to show how sitting and not using is worse than a daily play-fest....
The link below will take you to my Dropbox account for playback. If a sign up window appears just click "No Thanks" at the bottom to proceed to watch and/or download (better quality picture and sound if downloaded). I think I would (at this time) put this walkman up against almost any in regards to playback quality.
Let me know what y'all think? Video Link Below:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p12l1xdoqlq161j/20170524_161534.mp4?dl=0