This is a wind-up
A wind-up cassette player. I thought this was a nice little thing to make a simple video about. I looked for one of these on and off for a few years but I’d forgotten all about it though until an ebay seller in the UK contacted me after they’d acquired one and thought it would be my kind of thing. They were right. Here’s the video about it.
This video and the other two (Sony FH7 & Bandai cart) that haven’t yet gone live on YouTube are scheduled to be released on Saturdays while I’m away.
There is one more regular video scheduled for a Patreon early release in a week.
Take care.
P.S. There's a new episode of Miikshi out https://youtu.be/ZIImx86i8V4
Justin (who is also a patron) invited me back to do a guest voice again and always, the model work is a joy to watch.
Comments (66)
Made me laugh at the end - I was expecting the puppets (I miss the puppets), but Matt in the hat and wig looking suitably dejected was a hoot 🤣
Wow - that service manual is on point! At least the rewind and FF are (effectively) electrically geared to run faster. Great item!
At first, my wife thought you were feeding birds or planting seeds or something with the garden. When I told her what you were doing, she said I would have never guess that! lol We had to play that part over again to have a good laugh. Thumbs up!
That was really interesting, Mat. :-)
Late to the party, but I loved this one! Also do you remember your first Dime bar....?
Please bring your coast-to-coast wind-up tour to Australia! It's only about 4,000 km from Perth to Sydney. It'd be a great work out! 💪😆
Why not Perth to Brisbane... 5500 km isn't it?
You look good in an Einstein wig!
Yes... https://ibb.co/Q8TqY7N https://ibb.co/BfK5T1D https://ibb.co/YQy9LxY
Great video - especially the apocalyptic Techmoan!
It's a pity that YT content matching is so militant, as I'd love to hear "The Number Of The Beast" by Iron Maiden cranking out on that bad boy.
Or Highway to Hell by AC/DC
I saw one of these in the very early 1990s at Spring Harvest, which was a Christian festival. Very impressive technology for the time.
I like to think of all the kids that got their hands on these and used them to play what missionaries would think was the devil's music!
Someone needs to make a Mat mod for one of the Fallout games. He can hang out in town and play you some music (for a few caps) -- maybe help to identify pre-war tech you bring to him etc etc.
There were reel-to-reel tape recorders with a wind-up, spring-driven clockwork motor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj20W7Iu8ws But this is way, way worse.
I’ve been after one of these for years, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/166343077999 but based on the prices the last few have been advertised for, it looks like it will never happen.
No doubt you're busy planning your departure, or already on the road; but I wanted to say that the videos that incorporate your comedy are the most enjoyable, memorable, and charming. Not to mention, you really brought it with special effects and editing in this one. I enjoyed the church car park scenes (tell that nutter that defamed you to take a running leap into a quarry lake) and your creative use of your garage door as a busker cubby. But I'm curious to know, what set off the detonation blast? I'm blaming the BOOMbox.
The "BUMbox." 😁
"Wow/Flutter: +/- 50%"
Unless there is a microprocessor, that wind up cassette player would survive an EMP. Very valuable wonder if they should sell these to the preppers? Lol
what about the tapes?
Just a quick comment to say that I seem to have fallen out of the credits!
I've no idea how that's happened, I must apologise. I can only assume it's a slip of a finger on the keyboard. Unfortunately I've made the next video after this using the same credits but as soon as I return I'll reinstate your name as well as do all the other updates needed before I make another video. Apologies.
I can imagine myself with one of these devices when the world was about to end listening to some 80s cassette
Well the Dragons definitely out the door. And its quite uncanny there is a chap in our local town center who sits on a bench all day that resembles that post apocalypse guy. Ummm I wonder
That spare parts bag with its tiny list was satisfyingly forward-thinking. I'm sure playing a whole song would make one quite...cranky. (And thanks for sharing the new Miikshi episode link!)
Do not attempt to remember the Event.
As the Rolling Stones are releasing a new album in October with surely a tour to follow soon after, this would be the perfect opportunity for a Techmoan/Stones cross country extravaganza. Mat needs to be on stage with Mick, hand-crank at the ready. "Start Me Up!"
"Makes every album sound like the RokBlok!"
The beginning made me chuckle, I found the product and the history interesting, and the end made me laugh out loud - but I've got to praise the Miikshi video. The Thunderbird-esque models combined with the Tom Scott/Techmoan crossover the nerdy part of Youtube has been crying out for all add up to great fun. I hope both videos do well.
I would pay a disturbing amount of money for this product
The site still shows a different crank-powered cassette player on their price list (at least for the US). But it sounds like they only sell to churches and missionary organizations.
The service manual is the hidden star of the show 😁
The post apocalyptic cassette jam brought the belly laugh I needed at the end of my day! Thanks for this fascinating and hilarious video!
Very neat, I especially loved the ending!
That post-apocalyptic sketch at the end was brilliant! The sticker on the back of that unit shows it was an Australian model. That address in Eastwood is geographically not far from me, and it appears has been replaced with (like everything these days) a large block of flats.
I'd have designed one that used a rocking foot pedal, a bit like a spinning wheel. Your legs are a bit more sturdy. I guess they can't use a wind up spring as it doesn't deliver the torque and speed required.
Very much fun video ;) Also I'd like to see a schedule of your Coast to Coast Windup UK Tour
Since this was made for religious recordings and the fact it’s not battery powered,I suspect it’s for a religious reason.Perhaps a particular religious sect prohibited the use of electronic equipment connected to an external power source or have an exception to using a device like this only if it was powered by the person using it.Rules change over time ,for example the Amish in the USA were prohibited from using an electric washing machine,but now they can use one ,but only those connected to a diesel generator and not the power grid.Different sects have different rules.
I think it's more that missionaries often go places that don't have electricity or access to batteries. Even more true during the cassette's heyday. In the book I mentioned upthread, the locals definitely didn't have electricity, but they were willing to turn the crank and listen for a while. Unfortunately for the author at that point, they mostly thought the content was entertaining rather than profound, and once they found out that he hadn't personally met Jesus they lost interest. (They also weren't entirely clear on the difference between recordings and radio transmission. At one point one of the author's colleagues recorded what the colleague thought was a myth of theirs. When the author listened to the tape, they turned out to be talking to/at the author, thinking he could hear them: basically giving him a shopping list of things to buy for them in the city.) These days, solar might work for the much smaller power requirements of a solid state audio player or phone app. But onboard solar cells of the 70s and 80s wouldn't suffice to drive a cassette player.
😀
What a great device to solve a problem. Made me think of Trevor Baylis' original wind-up radio but that had a rather big spring inside.
Department of weird coincidences: Last night around midnight I was reading "Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes" which recounts the author's missionary and linguistic work with the Piraha Indians in the Amazon. The author mentioned using a hand-cranked cassette player with them to present his attempt at translating the Bible into their language. I'd never heard of such a thing. Imagine my surprise when twelve hours later, Matt posts a video about one. 🙂
I very briefly met Trevor Baylis, the inventor of the clockwork radio, at an exhibition when he stopped to look at the equipment we were showing. I wonder which came first, this or his radio? Oh, and Admiral G Raffe is looking and sounding good!
Mat I enjoyed this very much.
Oh thank goodness - when the power grid and all batteries expire I'll still be able to listen to Phil who isn't wanting to wear his jackets. Kids of the future will have it made - I hope they can make cassette belts with animal sinew. I am at work so I will have to rewatch the video at home to catch the nuances. Love the video, as always. Take care and safe travels 🧡
Been loving the past few videos you’ve released. I love the little bits of humor you introduce :)
Brilliant! I have also given some thought how I will go through the collapse of society ... now EMP, I don't think it's worth to hung around. When the wind blows has been coming to mind lately often. I haven't actually bought the movie as I kinda intended because it left me devastated when I watched it. I learnt the main theme is by Bowie though... the more you know
Brilliant, interesting device and a great way to show it off. I wonder how little power you can provide it, for example would a little, cheap, modern solar panel be enough to keep it going?
You'd need to add a battery for better smoothing (personally i'd attach batteries the DC line It takes 6V so i'd use two Ni-MH cells in a battery pack) but yes it would most likely work.
What a wild device! Great video
I absolutely love that 'VOLUME' is written twice, both rightways up and upside today. Just incase you want to... You know... Put the tape player upside (something you would never ever do)
Goodnews' first offerings of recordings were plastic 78rpm discs that were played on these hand crank phonograph: https://youtu.be/8Cy7Rs5DDeg?si=8QuLXmjoPz8B4AG_ They sound surprisingly decent.
As always, thanks for your expertise and the link.
Amazing simplistic design. The simplicity of the flywheel to assist, and even being able to be made out of cheap material. The spare parts inside is amazing because this would land somewhere where maybe someone wouldn't have access to any service. It makes it possible for an individual to break this open and fix the machine if a belt is broken. Thanks again for finding a weird thing to talk about, they're all very interesting to some of us.
Hopefully they'd drop some sweet tunes along with the bible bumps.
Ab. fab.
Climbing the chart of things you never knew existed. An instant Techmoan classic!
🤣 This intro and ending 🤣 But it reminds me of these wind-up radios (my father has one on his boat, in case he runs out of electricity), and indeed, nowadays they have a battery... Probably would still take a lot of winding to make a cassette player work for some time.
Okay, who was there in the car park calling you a nutter?😁
It was a Harry Enfield character in an advert for a Dime bar.
Great.
That was awesome, thank you! And let me know once you've walked across the Atlantic for your US tour.
Why no battery that seems crazy?
They were designed for use in third world countries back in the 1980s, I doubt batteries were easy to find back then. Not worth the extra complexity.