In a Quandry

Hello everybody,

I want you to know that I truly, deeply appreciate those of you who read and listen to my posts. I know there is a good, consistent audience out there, because I see the comments, and also can see how many people read each post. I am deeply appreciative that people followed me here from WFMU or discovered my work later, and stuck around.

I've been putting this off since the end of last year, but I don't see another way to address the problem.  You see, my beloved Teac machine needs repairs that cost more than the machine is worth. What's more, it needs both motors replaced, and they can only be found on the used market, which the repair shop, understandably, won't guarantee (or even purchase - I would have to do that).

I have other machines, but they are also either in disrepair, or work poorly. My Teac has been failing for two years or more, and I've been nursing it along, but as of the middle of December,  it simply doesn't work. The posts you've enjoy since then have been one's I'd built up for future use. There are several more, but they won't last forever.

This is nothing I'd usually bring up, but my finances are not such that I can afford to remedy this. The days of buying large quantities of old reels because they looked amazing or intriguing ended many years ago. I don't have the extra money to spend on a luxury like a ten-inch reel playing four track stereo reel to reel machine in good working order. I don't even know enough about them to know if I was getting a decent one, based on whatever is in the ad. But I'm sure I could get a perfectly suitable one for less than the $700+ that it's going to cost to fix my machine (again, with no promises from the repair shop).

It goes against the grain for me to suggest this, but I know that other sites have done fundraisers, and that atl least a few do them yearly.

I guess I have a few questions. First, are there those of you who would contribute to such a request, and second, would anyone with more knowledge than me point me in the direction of a model which would likely be a good purchase?

In case you'd rather not answer this in a comment, you can e-mail me at Rasmaster@aol.com

Again, thank you all for reading, listening, enjoying and commenting. I appreciate it more than you could possibly know.