60 Yr Old Vacuum Tube Reel-To-Reel Recorder/Player 4 Channel Stereo - Sony TC-500 [4K]

1964 Stereo Reel-To-Reel Recorder/Player with Stereo Tube Amplifier. Sony TC-500 Tapecorder. Picked this up from a man who said he thought it had a motor problem and had a video showing it starting to turn but stopping. When I picked it up we could not open the unit up to check it, but we bought it anyway and took a chance.

Let's take a look at this vintage stereo technology and if we can get it to work again.

See the checklist which appears when status changes, for tracking what is discovered that needs addressing in Red, followed by Green when resolved.

NOTE: This is not instruction, it is for entertainment for people like me who enjoy watching projects and the experiences gained. If you attempt to do any of the things in this video you are at your own risk. I am using special tech-bench safety equipment not detailed here so don't take for granted you can just plug these old items in safely without them being checked and repaired correctly. Check out the link below to Mr Carlson's Lab video below.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND REFERENCES:
[note: am in no way representing how these folks have shown doing these things - I don't even think they would approve.]

Thanks to shango066 for championing the approach of "fix it first", before mass re-capping. See shango066 for many examples of that approach.
@shango066

Awesome discussion of bench safety including variacs and isolation transformers by Mr Carlson's Lab (highly recommended):
   • Tech Tips Tuesday, Isolation Transfor...  
‪@MrCarlsonsLab‬

Modification method for a commercial Tripp Lite isolation transformer for tech-bench use by Todd Harrison, his channel is called ToddFun:
   • ToddFun.com: Isolation Transformer - ...  
‪@ToddFun‬

Camera: Canon G7X Mark III
Mic: Rode Micro
Video Editing Software: Power Director
Video Editor: just me

People interested in the following topics may be interested in the subject matter of this video: 1960s radios, tube radio repair, tube radio restoration, vacuum tube radio recapping, radio recapping, valve radio, Vintage Radio, antique radio, old radio repair, vintage radio, shango066, mr carlson, radio repair and restoration, 1950s radio restoration, radio restoration videos, vintage sony, vintage stereo components, reel to reel, tc-500a