LOL well, I'm not
that clueless!
I understand the basic concept of how a tape recorder works - using a magnetic field from the head to record sound on the magnetic tape, and playback works in reverse so that the magnetized tape induces a signal back in the head. I just don't understand the really intricate, "nitty gritty" details of the circuit and exactly how the signal is amplified and converted back into sound. I do have some experience with electronics, but just not a whole lot of experience fixing tape recorders. So far, the only repair work I've done on them is replacing belts or soldering loose wires back on.
This one does have a capstan and pinch roller. It's not rim drive. But it is kind of an oddball. It doesn't have fast forward, for one thing! It has Rewind, Play, and Record, but no fast forward. I thought that was pretty weird. But now I'm also thinking this thing doesn't have an erase head!
Although I actually didn't even know that tape recorders needed a separate erase head - I thought that whatever sound was already on a tape would just be naturally destroyed if you recorded over it, by the process of recording. I always thought that's how it worked. When I was a kid, I used to re-use tape cassettes all the time and recorded over them and never thought about it. But apparently you have to erase the tape first before you record on it, otherwise there will be overlapping sounds. So, hey, I've already learned something new!
The reason I think there is no erase head on this tape recorder is because there are only 2 heads. At first, I thought that maybe one of them could be a combination record\playback head. But I found another old tape that came with the recorder and you can hear people talking and one guy seems to be talking about how the recorder doesn't erase. He says things like "If there is already sound on the tape..." and talks about how he could buy a small "demagnetizer to clear the tape." So, apparently there might not be anything wrong with the recorder, and that was just how it was made? That seems so weird to me. Were there tape recorders that didn't have erase heads back then? Maybe they didn't think people would be recording over tapes that often?
I cleaned the heads, and I put in a different tape from another recorder I have that I know is working. This time the recording and playback sounded much better. So apparently the tape I was using when I tested the recorder earlier was just worn out. But when I tried to record over the tape (which I'm so used to being able to do with tape recorders), the sounds overlapped. It's so weird. I guess I'm going to have to look to see if I can find a manual. This tape recorder seems to be really well made to me, it would be so strange that they didn't even make it able to record over tapes. (Or why it doesn't have a fast forward!) Still, I like it. It's a cool little tape recorder, even if it is kind of an oddball.