Damage Risk

 

There is always a risk of loss when playing back this antique wire. Drug companies by law are required to tell you the side effects of any drug you might take, I am voluntarily taking this approach with your wires so you, as my customer, know the risks up front.

Anyone who attempts to playback these wires, either professional or armature can have problems. I choose to be forthright and clear about these dangers and deal with potential problems before they happen.  below I will explain those risks and possible negative outcomes.

I examine all the wires that come into my studio. If I feel that a wire is in danger I will tell you up-front before any work is done. If you at that time prefer not to process the wire I will offer a refund less shipping. If I feel the wire is in good shape problems can still occur but are unlikely to be a devastating problem.

 

Common problems: The problems listed below are common and generally are not devastating.

1. Wire break; this is a common occurrence that I regularly have to deal with. you will loose typically 1-2 seconds of wire if this occurs. Usually this is not noticeable in the recording or will appear as a "blip" in the sound.

2. Speed; These machines could be a little off between the different units, some may record a little faster or slower than other machines. If the speed difference can be detected i digitally adjust the speed to fix this problem.

3. Wire Snag; This occurs when a broken wire was not knotted correctly. this may cause some of the wire on the supply spool to wind off and create a small tangle that needs to be corrected.

4. single loop tangle: this is where one loop slips over another loop on the supply real, this causes a wire break and will require me to remove the wire and correct the problem, generally the issue will cause little problems and you loose about 1-2 seconds of recording because of the re-knotting.

 

Severe problems: These problems have the potential of being catastrophic but usually avoidable because the problem generally can be detected before the wire is played back. Sometimes a wire can exhibit these problems and go undetected but it is very rare.

1. Loose tension: this is a wire that is not packed on to the spool tight enough, this can lead to complete wire loss or the inability to playback the wire.  this is the problem i see the most when customers attempt to playback the wires themselves. This is not the customer’s fault but the machine’s fault. The machine may playback the wire correctly but lacks the proper tension to re-wind the wire. This is usually the part of the recorder that fails first and goes un-detected by the customer. 

2.  Incorrect bailing; The wire needs to be packed on the spool even across the width of the spool. This is a little rarer but I have seen this problem before. It is less risky than the loose tension problem but it is risky enough for me to be very worried about massive wire loss. At a minimum I get a one or two loop tangle.

3. Tight Tension: Some wires will be packed too tightly, this is un-identifiable during inspection. This condition will cause many wire breaks and a warbling effect in the audio that is difficult to remove completely. Rarely do I have a catastrophic failure with this condition but from my experience working with this wire I see the potential.

 

Now after telling you all of the problems I may encounter I am pleased to tell  you that these problems only affect about a handful of my customers, Just like the drugs that I mentioned in the first paragraph. Most all of my recording sessions complete in a smooth and regular fashion.