[Bensdad]

I have a Tandberg 15 reel to reel recorder , purchased in 2010 for a `minimal` price and serviced in 2010 by a chap in the London area , I know he replaced a few electrical parts , fitted a belt and presumably `greased` internals.
Admittedly , I have not been making as much use of these machine as much as I maybe should have in recent months and a few strange niggly problems have developed which leads me to believe it either needs another `service` or worst case `disposal`.
Basically ,yesterday there was a friction type noise coming from under the cover plate - as though there was unnecessary resistance or tension or something not moving as freely as it ought to be .
When I removed the cover plate to take a look , the noise was coming from the central pulley where the drive belt passes through in a figure of 8 , rotating the pulley by hand confirmed this noise which seemed to be friction from the drivebelt .
So , I removed the belt and cleaned around the grooves of the pulley using isopropyl alcohol soaked on a cotton bud , after I had done this the cotton bud was `black` - presumably from the rubber , but when I refitted the belt it did `appear` to cure the friction type noise which was coming from this area.
I ran the recorder yesterday for around 3 hours , to start with the audio seemed a bit `warbly` if that is the right word - but after 3 hours of use this was no longer apparent and the audio sounded perfectly normal.
When powering up the unit today and playing a tape , there was a different problem - the audio sounded dreadful due to erratic speed , when I removed the cover housing the playback head I discovered the pinch roller oscillating slightly at regular intervals.
I left the unit running for an hour or so and this problem went away of its own accord , the result being near perfect audio quality.
I know very little about the mechanics of these Tandberg 15 recorders but niggly problems like these and I begin to think does it need some sort of service or overhaul , the odd thing is that these niggly problems seem to disappear after the unit has been running for an hour or so !
Meanwhile , when it is working well , the audio quality of this particular machine remains consistently impressive , even at the slowest speed is still pretty damn good , using the middle speed or fast speed , the audio quality is very very good !