As of right now, my Pioneer deck has officially completed its repairs and is on the way back to me. They had to salvage parts from other units just to get it fully restored.
Here’s the full list of work that was done:
– All three drive belts replaced
– Full head alignment (X, Y, Z axis)
– Microcontroller board replacement
– Oil + general cleaning
– Polished capstan rollers
– Circuit board cleaning
– Fully de-dusted
This will be the first time I’ve had a properly working deck since late May 2025—over six months. The tech also mentioned that he could tell it hadn’t been in a smoke-free environment, meaning my blunt smoke has definitely been rough on the internals. Going forward, I’ll have to be way more careful about how I treat my setup.
I apologize for the long delay in uploads. Once I’m back up and running, I’ve got around 30–40 tapes ready to rip from 1991–1994. A lot of them are OG copies, and some are still totally unheard—pad presses, TDKs, and other rare formats.
Thanks to everyone for being patient while I keep improving this timeline/archive. More is on the way.
Exciting! Also a wake up call about all the equipment I keep in my garage where I smoke.
