Old Recordings Discs Tapes Wires Dictation Belts Other Media
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The Peirce, later acquired and marketed by GE, was a system that differed from the Webster-Chicago recorder in significant ways. The feed and take-up reels are of the same size and design. They have a slot in the center, are almost 4" in diameter, and are an inch wide.
 Well-preserved wires made on these machines can sound surprisingly well. Not all their wires were made of stainless steel; Some have rusted and I can do nothing with them. As with the Webster-Chicago wires, I make no guarantees at all when copying from them. Processing time includes preliminary playing and rewinding to remove or reduce accumulated kinks in the wire after many years on the spool. Broken or tangled wires are not unusual. Sometimes I can fix broken ones, but a mare's nest tangle is hopeless and I don't work on them. Fatal internal damage, often rust, can be hidden by the outer winding so sometimes I can only recover part of the recording. I make no guarantees at all on wire restoration work. BASIC COSTS: If there are no unusual problems, transfering a 15 minute wire to the computer costs about $ 135, 30 minute $ 200, 1 hour, $ 275. Making the first CD from the sound file is $ 30 and each additional CD made at the same time is $ 20.00 ADDITIONAL SERVICES: Microphone and machine electronic clicks from the off-on switches can be louder than what was otherwise recorded. Removing or reducing these takes about 1.5 times the playing time. Should this seem to me be an intrusive problem, I'll notify you and let you decide if the cost is worth the added clarity.
This site ©2001 Steven Smolian. Rev. 1 |