Not posting this for sale or "dollars and sense" stuff, but posting to ask a question: what's a Webster Wire Recorder and why would I want one?

http://anchorage.craigslist.org/ele/587497884.html

A Webster wire recorder is a audio recorder that records on a very fine steel wire. These predate tape recorders by a number of years. Webster-Chicago, who made this unit, later became Webcor. This machine was made between
1945-53 by this company. They have good fidelity. Their drawbacks were that they weren't as easy to thread as tape, and there was no way to record in stereo on wire. I've owned several of them over the years. I'd say go for it, these things are fun to tinker with and easy to service.


Dumont-First with the finest in television.:yes:

I am incidentally going to borrow one from a radio DJ here today for use as a stage prop......the one I am borrowing does not work though.

I restored one of those for a recording studio owner who wanted to use it as an "effect" in signal processing. He is into esoteric methods indeed.

Big thing to watch for is open head coils. Often such can be corrected by pulling the plug-in head assembly and resoldering the pins--much as on an octal tube.

Audio bandwidth is limited on these machines by today's standards, but they still sound quite pleasing with the right type of music just the same.

The $300 price on the one listed shows that the seller at least has a sense of humor.