Head groove-o-mania

Makymak

Makymak

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#1
I have seen that there is a custom among the cassette users community to condemn a head that has a groove. Ok, it's obvious that wear isn't favorable for the head performance but where is the limit? Not all the heads with wear are off. I have seen the groove accumulated on new heads after about 50 hours. I guess a 50-hours head isn't junk.

I don't want to start the debate "how many hours a cassette head lasts". My opinion is that nobody can give an accurate answer, not even an estimation. It depends on a number of factors.

It's a pity to discourage someone to buy a deck because "this head is crap". Unless some extremes, I think most heads out there have quite a lot of juice left. Even if lapping is needed, it worths it to prevent the decks with survivable heads reaching the landfill.

Edit: I don't try to sell any deck.
 
vince666

vince666

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#12
Makymak said:
I have seen that there is a custom among the cassette users community to condemn a head that has a groove. Ok, it's obvious that wear isn't favorable for the head performance but where is the limit? Not all the heads with wear are off. I have seen the groove accumulated on new heads after about 50 hours. I guess a 50-hours head isn't junk.
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actually, i always had the opposite impression... that, in general, people usually ignore or don't care about head wear.

so, IMHO, it's better if they finally start at least wondering about this kind of phenomenon.

of course, a head with 50 hours of use (unless you played sandpaper-tape on it which would at least add scratches on it) is still like new and it will easily show an excellent playback response. (not to be confused with REC/PB response, though)

anyways, in the cassette community, i do find more worrying that people who get an old/used deck, the very first thing they try to do is to touch the head screws, i. e. to align azimuth, usually without having a clue about what they are doing and why... but they do it the same.
 
vince666

vince666

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#16
J!m said:
And then complain about its performance…

That’s why I send decks to trained people with the right tools and skills. No other way to do it.
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especially these latest couple years, that i am seeing countless Facebook groups about cassettes and decks and lots of people who got a deck (i mean, i.e., just here in Italy), it's getting very difficult to find decks which weren't just opened and sabotated by clueless wannabe repairmen.
The more someone is clueless, the faster he opens the chassis.

a friend here, a couple years ago, gave me a technics M63 for free but by telling me that the guy who had it tried to restore it without success.... it was my worst nightmare of a deck... with incredible damages (included burned traces on the main board)... but it was useful to learn a bit better how to fix the stuff, because i had to fix quite everything... now, it's a deck i really love (it works nicely again and it's a good deck) and the point that the guy wasn't able to damage it for good means that it's a really well built model... its heads look like some Alps ferrite ones and they still work/measure like new, despite the deck is from 1979 and it was surely used a lot over the years.
 
Makymak

Makymak

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#18
@vince666 , I agree. I'm just seeing it from a different point of view. The available decks are getting older. No more are produced (yeah, Teac I know. C'mon). So, it's logical wear adds on them. The point is to distinguish when that wear is tolerable or it is over practical use. A photo of a head (unless the wear is extremely obvious) cannot tell you how it will perform. We have other means to test them. A photo also, can't tell you if the head can be saved. And as the good decks are getting rarer and rarer, I think it's not a taboo to rethink to save them.

As for people who mess with gear they don't have any clue what they need, well.... It's their stuff and their money....
 
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