Grundig Stenorette L - Transferring recordings to PC

[Putters]

I've got a minor reputation in the family for being able to "fix things". Hence every now and then get given old kit / problems to fix / solve.

So far it's been mainly old radios / clocks etc - but this time Brother-In-Law has passed on a bit of a doozy this time (along with another clock !) - to get recordings made on Grundig Stenorette cassettes of stories his father recorded when B-I-L was a child onto a PC.

He's kindly(!) supplied two Stenorettes (one working - one not), various accessories (headset and footswitch, microphone / speaker / control handset unit) and a box of a dozen or more cassettes.

Working Stenorette - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...orette_L_o.jpg
Non working Stenorette) - http://www.museumoflondonprints.com/...e-20th-century

I found a partial circuit diagram on this forum : https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...9&d=1222086291 ,so am now registered and asking for more help.

So - several questions.

1) Anyone got a better circuit diagram (though I think this one has the info I need)

2) The motor in the working machine is a bit weak - struggles to rewind cassettes. I've tried lubing every bearing in sight, and dismantled / cleaned / reassembled the rewind shaft as far as I can (not very) which has helped, but any more ideas ?
The rewind wheel still feels somewhat resistant to turning. This looks like it has been a problem in the past as the wheel has been resurfaced in what looks like old Elastoplast to give a little more friction!

3) The output sound quality is abysmally noisy, any recommendations for free software to clean up the results (this any good ? http://www.audacityteam.org/)

4) I've figured out how to bypass the footswitch (shorting out pins 2 and 3 on the footswitch socket, and the output to the headset speaker is pins A and B on the mic / control socket (took the connector apart on the headset !). Any reason why I shouldn't solder a lead with a phono plug on the other end across those pins and use this to feed the mic socket on the PC ?

5) Some of the cassettes appear to be a little stiff to turn too. A pencil works fine with standard audio cassettes - any tricks to suggest for these beasties ?

Many thanks - Putters

I thought about recommending going down the professional transfer route - a quick google found these guys - http://www.audiorestored.com/transfe...dig-stenorette - but at £25 a cassette brother-in-law would be looking at £300+ !!!

[paulsherwin]

These were dictation machines, so the quality isn't going to be up to much.

Take the headphone output and connect it to the stereo line input on the PC soundcard, not the mic. This will only give one channel but you can sort it out later in software.

Audacity is excellent and very powerful audio editing software and many of us here use it. It is a heavyweight piece of software so be prepared for a steep learning curve, but it will do anything you're likely to need including pitch shifting and speed adjustment.

[Putters]

Thankyou for the reply.

I will have a nose round the PCs for the Line In socket.

Re the quality. I was some expecting some hiss, as you say they were dictation machines and made no claim to high fidelity. But the noise levels were somewhat higher than I was expecting.

To be honest I suspect the machines and the media haven't been stored in particularly benign conditions. Hopefully a few days in my nice warm dehumidified garage will help a little, as will a good workout of volume controls etc :O)

On the subject of noise / grime etc, any pet tips on head cleaning? Was going to go with a dab of white spirit on a lint free cloth ...

[TonyDuell]

I wouldn't use white spirit anywhere near the heads. I normally use isopropyl alcohol (also called propan-2-ol). You can get a spray can of it from Maplin. Not cheap, but it does no damage and does clean heads. I normally use a cotton bud to apply it and then dry the heads with a second cotton bud. But don't do that on video heads, you will break them off. Should be OK on the heads in this machine though.

I have a couple of Stenorettes that I obtained about 30 years ago and have done nothing with. One day perhaps... I do remember though that there are loose ball bearings in some places -- IIRC on the spool spindles, etc. If you take them apart you get ball bearings everywhere. You have to stick them back with grease and then put it all together. The problem comes if somebody has been there before you and lost the balls. You might not realise they are missing but the increase in friction does matter.

[paulsherwin]

Meths is fine for head cleaning if you don't have any IPA. Dirty heads may be responsible for the poor quality if you haven't cleaned them yet. You can use a cotton bud or a bit of soft rag on the end of a finger.

[Phil G4SPZ]

If you have a conventional 4-track reel-to-reel tape recorder, you can replay Stenorette tapes at 1.875ips - the speed is fairly close. If you hear nothing, try tracks 2-3 as the early Stenorettes recorded on the lower half of the tape.

[ben]

I used to have one of these and the sound was actually quite good, easily comparable to a domestic reel to reel. As you suggest I suspect bad storage and the passage of time haven't been kind to your kit.

I used to play the carts on my reel to reel also. You may be best off cutting your losses and getting a reel to reel yourself, with a line out socket . You'd probbaly get the best sound that way.
You may have to fix the carts to to the reek to reel deck with masking tape otherwise when you press rewind the whole cart will spin not just the tape reel inside!

[TIMTAPE]

I agree playing them on a good reel to reel machine will probably yield better results. Probably a 2 track stereo machine playing from the right channel will be best. You may need to remove the reels from the cases. Not that familiar with this model Grundig.

Also agree with Ben that the sound quality on these sorts of machines could be quite acceptable for speech at least. Normally unless the tapes have been dreadfully stored and have physical damage, they shouldnt have deteriorated much in sound quality.

If there's a lot of background noise I'd more suspect it's coming from the machine rather than the tapes. If in doubt play the machine with no tape inserted. Now you are hearing only the noise contribution of the machine. If the tape is not making proper contact with the head you will get a weak signal and the self noise of the machine predominates, suggesting the recording is poor. Not necessarily so. Check one thing at a time.

Whatever playback machine is used, the tape heads should be demagnetised to avoid permanently adding noise to the recordings.

Re audacity and noise reduction "clean up"; Such a "denoiser" tool is quite commonly available in computer audio editor programmes these days. Basically it doesnt remove the noise. It only appears to do so. Experts generally avoid them. There's not a lot you can do to remove general tape hiss/ noise apart from filtering which of course often filters out the very speech you want to hear.
Rather, best to do all you can to get the cleanest, clearest sound off the tape.

Tim

[Putters]

Thankyou all for taking your time to help.

I'm giving up on the Stenorettes as a bad job - just too much time involved. Recommended to brother-in-law that if he wants to get the tapes transferred he goes down the professional route or takes the advice given here re getting an alternative player.