another new kid on the block

[selectavision]

Hello everybody!
I´d like to introduce myself. My name is Martin, living in Germany. I am 56 years old and half of my life I was messing around with old magnetic recording gear such as the Telefunken M10, some Studers and Grundigs etc. For the past 6 years I changed over to the mechanical way of sound recording. Finally in 2015 -after quite a while of research- I found the wreck of a recording lathe from the fourties on ebay and purchased the remains. No amps. The machine was made by a small and unknown austrian manufacturer "Electronic Wien" and came with the original direct drive motor and cast iron platter. Then - about 6 months after that I could get a Motosacoche recording lathe, built in Switzerland (not jet functional because of missing platter an a related sad story of hifi-enthusiasm - more about that in a later post). This lathe has got some unique properties and served in Radio Zurich for broadcast transscriptions. It came with three genuine Motosacoche cutterheads and a complete documentation, but no amps or electronics as well. I consider both lathes as beeing rare.
In the meantime I restored the "Electronik Wien" and put it back to some experimental work. For now it is just embossing what I do with it; using a CD gives about two and a half minutes of recording-time (it´s only 78 rpm for now). The Wien-cutterhead is mono and is still the original one which came with this lathe. I grind the needles diy by using a drill press. The achievable sound quality is quite nice, even though it is only "lo-fi". I learned a lot about disk recording and the different techniques while lurking around here as a guest. So I absolutely have to thank the society of lathe trolls so far in many respects. In the end I had a strong wish to join this board and contribute some of my own experiences in return.
Some other hobbies of mine are:
a tractor and an excavator - both from the 1950ies from GDR, my wife and my dog...(don´t mind the order, it says nothing).
Another current project: a lawnmower on tracks (I think it will never be finished unless i do it in my second live).

Recently and finally I could build up a small workshop equipped with a lathe and a milling machine, some welding stuff and a crafting corner for the electronics. Sorry for the lack of pictures related to the said lathes and themes, they´re coming soon.

Wish erveryone a happy work - till next time,

Martin

[flozki]

hello Martin.
welcome to the "motosacoche" club.
a beautyfull lathe.made my a great company which is still very famous fro their motorbikes and even more for their standalone motors you still can find on many swiss farms.
great news. this is then about nr.6 still survived so far.approx 3-4 in a 40km radius from me..
there are two running here in switzerland. one with a caruso head. 2nd also very soon. the MAG head was my first non hommade built cutterhead ever. lets share coordinates once. and then hopefully that mag goes into cutting again.
flo

[selectavision]

Hi flo,
many thanks for the information. As far as I know, MAG did much more than motorbikes and motors. They manufactured as well slot machines and gigantic tape recorders, some of them used in Great Britain at the radiophonic workshop amongst many other brands (pictures of them on the radiophonic workshop gallery - just have a look!!!).

Martin

[selectavision]

Here some pictures of said lathes:

[flozki]

yes the MAG tape recorders great stuff. at least heavy and big.
there is one in the museum in my town. .

also very ncie turntables....
even planes.. haha

all the audio stuff they produced in a short period of time.mainly short before and during WWII. they go the money pushed in to make independant audio products....after that they where too expensive. too heavy. so audio stuff was gone quick.
i never found out how many lahtes they made. but not too many i guess. heads i have seen well above nr. 1000 or even 1200. lowest was a a100er number seen.

[symatic]

awesome piece of history and a relly interesting sounding project