Restoring a Vintage Recording Equipment: A Journey of Patience and Perseverance

As I sat in my workshop, surrounded by various tools and materials, I embarked on a project that required patience, attention to detail, and a willingness to learn. My goal was to restore an old recording equipment, specifically a Nagra 4s stereo reel-to-reel recorder, which had been passed down to me from a friend. The device was in excellent condition, but it had been sitting idle for years, waiting for someone to bring it back to life.

The first step in the restoration process was to clean and inspect the equipment. I applied a leather conditioner to the outside of the case, as I wanted to restore its original appearance. To do this, I wore leather gloves and some rubber gloves to protect my hands from any potential stains or damage. Next, I carefully examined the device for any tears or cracks in the leather, which was a common issue with old equipment.

To address these issues, I applied barge glue to the backs of the tears, as well as some patches that would serve as strengthening pads to help prevent further deterioration. One of the most significant challenges I faced was repairing a large tear on the side of the case. To fix this, I cut two pieces of leather to fit over the damaged area and applied them using a combination of glue and stitching. This process required great care and attention to detail, as I didn't want to compromise the integrity of the device.

As I worked, I also needed to address some issues with the zipper, which was in need of repair. To do this, I applied a special type of leather conditioner, known as saddle soap, to help restore its flexibility and functionality. This process required patience and elbow grease, as I needed to work slowly and carefully to avoid damaging the delicate fabric.

Despite my best efforts, there were still some areas where the equipment was showing signs of wear and tear. One area that particularly caught my attention was a small scratch on the front of the device. To fix this, I applied some specialized leather repair products, which helped to fill in the gap and restore its original appearance.

Throughout the restoration process, I also needed to consider the overall aesthetic of the equipment. The Nagra 4s had a rich, warm tone that I wanted to preserve, as well as a distinctive smell that added to its charm. To achieve this, I used a combination of products, including leather conditioners and polishes, to enhance the device's appearance and character.

As I worked, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and anticipation. What would it be like when the equipment was finally complete? Would it still sound as good as new? The answer, fortunately, was yes. When I finished the restoration process, the Nagra 4s sounded better than ever, with a rich, warm tone that was reminiscent of some of the most iconic recordings in history.

The final step in the restoration process was to test the equipment and make any necessary adjustments. To do this, I plugged in the device and began recording some test tracks. The results were impressive, with clear, crisp sound that was free from distortion or noise. This was a testament to my hard work and attention to detail, as well as the quality of the equipment itself.

In the end, restoring the Nagra 4s was a journey of patience and perseverance, but also one of discovery and growth. I learned a great deal about the equipment, as well as the importance of proper care and maintenance. The experience also gave me a newfound appreciation for the craftsmanship and attention to detail that went into creating these iconic devices.

Chemical Guys Products: A Review

As someone who has spent many hours researching and experimenting with different products, I was excited to try out some Chemical Guys leather care products. These products are designed specifically for restoring and maintaining leather goods, including upholstery, shoes, and clothing.

One of the first products I tried was a leather cleaner, which I applied to a variety of surfaces on the Nagra 4s case. The results were impressive, with deep, rich tones that seemed to bring out the equipment's original patina. This product is perfect for removing dirt and grime from leather surfaces without leaving any harsh chemical residues behind.

Next, I tried out the metal polish, which was used to restore the device's original finish. This product is designed to remove tarnish and corrosion while also protecting the metal surfaces from future damage. The results were impressive, with a shine that seemed almost mirror-like in its intensity.

I also wanted to try out the saddle soap, which is a type of leather conditioner that is designed specifically for restoring flexibility and durability to leather goods. This product was used to restore the zipper on the Nagra 4s case, as well as some other areas where the leather was showing signs of wear and tear. The results were impressive, with a renewed sense of suppleness and flexibility in the leather.

Finally, I tried out the final finish, which is a type of wax that is applied to the leather surfaces to protect them from future damage. This product was used to seal the repairs on the Nagra 4s case, as well as some other areas where the leather was showing signs of wear and tear. The results were impressive, with a rich, warm tone that seemed almost like new.

Overall, I was very impressed with Chemical Guys products, which are perfect for anyone looking to restore or maintain their leather goods. These products are designed specifically for use on various surfaces, including upholstery, shoes, clothing, and more.

Lessons Learned

As I worked on restoring the Nagra 4s, I learned a great deal about the importance of patience and attention to detail. This process required careful consideration of every step, from cleaning and inspecting the equipment to applying barge glue and stitching patches onto the leather surfaces.

I also learned the value of using specialized products designed specifically for use on leather goods. These products are designed to address unique challenges and problems that arise when working with this type of material.

Finally, I was reminded of the importance of preserving original patina and character in vintage equipment. The Nagra 4s had a rich, warm tone and distinctive smell that were an integral part of its charm. By using the right products and techniques, it was possible to restore these features while also maintaining their integrity.

Conclusion

Restoring the Nagra 4s was a journey of discovery and growth, as well as one of patience and perseverance. I learned a great deal about this iconic equipment, as well as the importance of proper care and maintenance. The experience also gave me a newfound appreciation for the craftsmanship and attention to detail that went into creating these devices.

If you're looking to restore or maintain your own vintage equipment, I highly recommend taking on this challenge. With patience, attention to detail, and the right products, it's possible to bring even the most worn-out equipment back to life.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello everybody what is with my hair it's time for a haircut i think hi uh it's good to see you adam savage here in my cave i am trying to think about where to begin with this one i am collecting soon a piece of technology and one of the items that i like to collect here in the shop are pieces of technology i think of as spikes in the graph high points in the development of something so as you saw recently when i got a visit from the wonderful uh folks at the quarter crew i brought out some single bits radio tube bits from an early ibm computer i've got a gigabyte from 1981 it weighs 75 pounds um my inaugural spy recorder is one of these and i'm soon going to be obtaining another piece of recording equipment that is historical in nature um it's from the movie diva yeah i'm going to give you that teaser and a whole bunch of people will figure it out when they look at what i'm about to restore um but what i've noticed when i've talked to people about the movie diva is a lot of people don't remember that that's even a movie and so i just want to open write by saying you can go buy diva right now on amazon and it's an old 1981 french thriller that is one of my all-time favorite movies i saw it with my parents when it came out because i was raised on a steady diet of slightly inappropriate european films uh and it rocked my world then when i was living in new york in the 80s i'm going to say this all again when i unpack this device when i get it in a few weeks but i spent a good portion of the 80s seeing diva like once a year was always at the waverly or the failure it was at one of the rep houses those are really amazing days and alamo drafthouse does a lot to fill the void left by those new york art house cinemas but boy it is a loss you there was like six back then and you could just always go see something weird and amazing anyway i'm about to collect a key piece of electronics that was featured in the movie diva and when i get obsessed with something when i start thinking about something to obtain i get serious i get expansively obsessed with all the things around that object and so i picked up a case for the thing that i'm obtaining and here is the case look up close look how filthy this is a well used well-used piece of kit and it is absolutely magnificently dirty and i'm not going to bring it back to you know show room condition by any stretch of the imagination but yeah i'll do some close-ups of this so you can see i am going to use some leather cleaning products specifically from the chemical guys uh i am on i this is not a sponsored video they don't know i'm doing this i didn't know about their product until i went and read some reviews that seemed quite positive so i'm trying their stuff out i've got some leather cleaner i've got some leather detailer for the hardware i've got some metal polish and i've got a toothbrush and some i've got some brushes and stuff and i'm not afraid to use them so let me give you some close-ups and then we're just going to get into some restoration which i don't do enough of on the channel because i really enjoy it and the other thing i don't do enough of in my past restorations is i don't get enough good b-roll of the before picture it's ridiculous that i don't do that so i'm going to try and remedy that right now okay the first stop on this is going to be the uh the metal hardware the closures and the zippers etc some of these could use a little a little help a little bit of their metal polish to bring it into submission oh yeah oh i gotta take this onto my sewing machine do a little repair repair repair oh i don't know that i'm going to be able to oh fascinating cotton balls corn okay all right this thing is bent a little bit let's fix this guy if you look under eyeglass repair uh in a hardware site like amazon i mean amazon's a hardware site for me uh these soft jawed pliers are amazing for things just like what i'm doing here so that both of those work that's great oh i'm gonna need to hammer that down okay so let's see the other closures those are good uh that one could use a little help yeah oh nelly all right all right yeah yeah okay i gotta move through this methodically so those are good these need a little bit of hammering bit of nylon will do yeah that's better much better all right that one's good now let's see about these guys those fit pretty good not too not only i want to know i know that there's some oem manufacturer that makes oval grommets with an oval grommet setter but that is the thing i'd love to see okay so all of the twist closures are good all the twist closure oval holes are good uh let's see now what else we got going on here we've got the uh oh right we've got these these little snap closures for these that's funny this guy seems pretty oh yeah just came across something i was talking about how nice the weathering was on this thing and i was working on this part tell me what you think you see there yeah you see what i see i see that this thing has been scenic scenic is a verb that is in the film industry means someone took someone made this dirty this didn't just get dirty it's funny i was looking at this thing thinking and that is a night that's like the kind of finish you get with acrylic paint and low i i guarantee you that is acrylic paint so what's funny is i bought i know i'm gonna keep on not saying what this is a case for even though it's probably the second comment in the comments but just keep my air of mystery um this was used for some film a film is kind of the only reason i could possibly imagine that someone would have taken a bunch of brown acrylic paint to the outside of a brown leather thing i mean i guess it could be a theater show but in addition this was also the genuine article this was the actual device used to hold a thing yeah all right fascinating um that guy is not flat and this guy is also well that one's flat oh that one's good okay so that's what it should feel like and this is what it does feel like yeah i see the problem all right let's pry that open with i'm gonna open it with a pry thingy i don't mean to get technical on y'all there we go yeah see that's all bent there let's fix that up actually well so i don't want to oh look at that it had a back thing so that fell out at some point all right i'm not gonna pull this one that would be one of the choices i could make i could pull both of these and then scrub on the outside but i don't want to do that that's funny that it was fake weathering because i will tell you when i watch weathering videos sometimes i feel like the rust they're showing that's not real rust i mean it's real rust it's clearly iron oxide but i don't know that that iron oxide was obtained in an honest fashion i said it i think some of those weathering videos might pre some of those restoration videos might pre-weather their stuff i don't want to cast aspersions so i'm not going to name anybody specific you know we all got to make a living i totally get that and i still enjoy watching them i just enjoy it more when i know it's absolutely genuine fascinating what happened under there what happened under there okay um that piece is and i'm gonna keep that one not pull this one when i pulled that one it's just it's not a great idea to bend tabs a lot the tabs that hold this in i'm gonna leave it out i mean i'm gonna take that one out leave that one in okay so now there's right the zipper has torn there and here the zipper is in terrific shape all the way up all the way up okay that's it for some good shape that's the behind the shape that's the person in good shape that zipper is in good shape it's only this one all right and it's good shape it's it's in good shape here it's just this part all right normally i should replace this whole zipper but i'm not gonna start there work my way around i can go through all the old holes and let's turn yeah so dude that's much better and i want to repair that part all right so let's do that too this big sewing needle i'm using is a book binders needle it's called a binder's needle uh i keep all sorts of different sizes and shapes of sewing needles around simply because i have always had a need for lots of different sizes and shapes of sewing needles do but it'll do but it'll do pig we're gonna do just a little bit of some ca glue solidifying of some of these pieces in here oh no oops got a little crazy glue on my hand that made i can always feel that it's a little hotter than it should be all right um i'm just going to add a little contact cement to some of the parts here so that i can stick them down and they will like be a little more cooperative so yeah that's what's about to happen nice i think that is all of that right there yeah yeah yeah all right if it was you if you were painting this and you know it's origin story fill me in i'd love to know that would be awesome uh so let me get some gloves on and get a little metal polish oh you do come out all right what wool hills bills margaret wow that was amazing all right here let's go in let's come on in here there is our button i want to clean that up i come in here and do a little bit of this action then i do a little bit of cleanup of it and it's like brand spanking new amazing all right yeah we're just going to keep on working our way through working our way back to you babe i'm figuring that any damage the leather sorry the metal polish does to the leather will actually be taken care of when i clean the leather later amazing um i'm gonna stop there and i'm gonna start doing that look at this look at this this is totally weathered fascinating all right shake well i really say shake well shake well all right very funny to collect a thing that i think is a real thing it turns out to be both a real thing and potentially there's been some storytelling going on this is doing a really good job of pulling the acrylic off of here um and it's not too rough on the leather i'm already a big fan of this leather cleaner la la clena all right yeah yeah yeah i feel like i've gotten the bulk of the dirt off yeah so now i'm gonna move to the quick detailer this cleans restores and protects this is just cleaning let's do a last pass i like that okay so i'm going to take this dirty rag put it over there and use this clean rag there we go oh smells good so i'm going to let that set tonight let it kind of think about what it did it looks way better already yeah that needs some real help there all right i'm going to add a little leather conditioner to the outside of this i'm very pleased with how it's coming out i'm going to put on some leather gloves leather gloves some rubber gloves the last thing i'm doing today and then when i come in tomorrow i'm going to give it a buff or maybe a second treat yep yep almost tricked me so all right all right go home for the night check in the morning so that's coming along um right now what i've got is some little tears in some of the most oft used places i've got a tear here and a tear here so i have painted the backs of those tears with a little barge glue little contact cement and i've got some patches here which i am going to utilize but i'm going to cut these in half because these are little strengthening pads that will go in and hopefully stop the deterioration or opening of that crack of that tear this one's a fairly large one we'll take care of that right now excellent and then i think i've got one more little strengthener i want to do over here all right yes that zipper is totally in in trouble we are almost finished with my restoration of this piece of recording equipment so i'm gonna hit it with one last treatment of some uh fibering saddle soap and then we'll give it a buff with some uh with the brush and that should take us home do i've got a little bit of schmutz on the front here and despite everything else being really really lovely that's shite i'm gonna take care of it sticky bad bad bad alexa play that song again all right well i am pleased i have restored it from two different processes one the process of age and other the process of scenicing um yeah let's show some b-roll of close-ups of how pretty this looks because it has a rich leather tone and it smells fantastic and yes um yeah the big reveal is this is to hold a nagra 4s a legendary stereo reel to reel studio quality recorder that you could sling over your shoulder it recorded every single movie from the mid 60s when it first appeared until i'm sure it is still recording movies uh but your bulk of movies are now recorded digitally but the the noise floor of the 4s famously low um you only wanted to plug you only want to plug the most incredible microphones into it to get the most out of it uh and soon i will get it and we'll do a show and tell about it because it's a piece of technology i want in this collection it's a magnificent an important piece of recording technology and i thought this was a suitable container for it are many different leather cases for it but i wanted one that felt old i had no idea i was buying one that was preceded hilarious i am i am sure that many people who work regularly with leather and leather restoration have all sorts of tips and tricks and ideas and favorite products and i'd love to know them my takeaway from watching a lot of videos of leather restoration is it is really about cleaning and then hydration and then uh maintenance allowing the oils and uh the various unjoints and waxes that you apply to soak into the leather and make it more supple and thus last longer i really uh i like the ease of use of these chemical guys products specifically the cleaner did it did a stunning job the metal polish is also pretty good i really really love the fibrins saddle soap that final finish is just delightful uh none of these are endorsements of any of these products they're just the ones that seemed to get the the right reviews and so i purchased them we'll include links to them in the description below um and yeah this this is me being so obsessive about the thing to fit the thing before i got the thing but it's quite on brand right um i'll see you guys next time cheers one of the things i love about this channel is that we don't make how-to videos so much as we make what happened videos and what almost always happens are mistakes and screw-ups in fact they're completely integral to making and honestly to being a person and to celebrate this tested has a new batch of demerit badges for the screw-ups you will encounter in the shop from left to right we have touching your paint job assembling things backwards losing a tiny screw or part gluing your fingers together and smashing your thumb and frankly if you haven't done both of these even if you're not a maker i just don't feel like you've experienced enough of the world i'm not saying get out a hammer and smash your thumb but i will tell you that the blackier your fingernail after the injury the less it's going to hurt in the long run i almost forgot these make excellent additions to your shop apron and they are available at tested store.comhello everybody what is with my hair it's time for a haircut i think hi uh it's good to see you adam savage here in my cave i am trying to think about where to begin with this one i am collecting soon a piece of technology and one of the items that i like to collect here in the shop are pieces of technology i think of as spikes in the graph high points in the development of something so as you saw recently when i got a visit from the wonderful uh folks at the quarter crew i brought out some single bits radio tube bits from an early ibm computer i've got a gigabyte from 1981 it weighs 75 pounds um my inaugural spy recorder is one of these and i'm soon going to be obtaining another piece of recording equipment that is historical in nature um it's from the movie diva yeah i'm going to give you that teaser and a whole bunch of people will figure it out when they look at what i'm about to restore um but what i've noticed when i've talked to people about the movie diva is a lot of people don't remember that that's even a movie and so i just want to open write by saying you can go buy diva right now on amazon and it's an old 1981 french thriller that is one of my all-time favorite movies i saw it with my parents when it came out because i was raised on a steady diet of slightly inappropriate european films uh and it rocked my world then when i was living in new york in the 80s i'm going to say this all again when i unpack this device when i get it in a few weeks but i spent a good portion of the 80s seeing diva like once a year was always at the waverly or the failure it was at one of the rep houses those are really amazing days and alamo drafthouse does a lot to fill the void left by those new york art house cinemas but boy it is a loss you there was like six back then and you could just always go see something weird and amazing anyway i'm about to collect a key piece of electronics that was featured in the movie diva and when i get obsessed with something when i start thinking about something to obtain i get serious i get expansively obsessed with all the things around that object and so i picked up a case for the thing that i'm obtaining and here is the case look up close look how filthy this is a well used well-used piece of kit and it is absolutely magnificently dirty and i'm not going to bring it back to you know show room condition by any stretch of the imagination but yeah i'll do some close-ups of this so you can see i am going to use some leather cleaning products specifically from the chemical guys uh i am on i this is not a sponsored video they don't know i'm doing this i didn't know about their product until i went and read some reviews that seemed quite positive so i'm trying their stuff out i've got some leather cleaner i've got some leather detailer for the hardware i've got some metal polish and i've got a toothbrush and some i've got some brushes and stuff and i'm not afraid to use them so let me give you some close-ups and then we're just going to get into some restoration which i don't do enough of on the channel because i really enjoy it and the other thing i don't do enough of in my past restorations is i don't get enough good b-roll of the before picture it's ridiculous that i don't do that so i'm going to try and remedy that right now okay the first stop on this is going to be the uh the metal hardware the closures and the zippers etc some of these could use a little a little help a little bit of their metal polish to bring it into submission oh yeah oh i gotta take this onto my sewing machine do a little repair repair repair oh i don't know that i'm going to be able to oh fascinating cotton balls corn okay all right this thing is bent a little bit let's fix this guy if you look under eyeglass repair uh in a hardware site like amazon i mean amazon's a hardware site for me uh these soft jawed pliers are amazing for things just like what i'm doing here so that both of those work that's great oh i'm gonna need to hammer that down okay so let's see the other closures those are good uh that one could use a little help yeah oh nelly all right all right yeah yeah okay i gotta move through this methodically so those are good these need a little bit of hammering bit of nylon will do yeah that's better much better all right that one's good now let's see about these guys those fit pretty good not too not only i want to know i know that there's some oem manufacturer that makes oval grommets with an oval grommet setter but that is the thing i'd love to see okay so all of the twist closures are good all the twist closure oval holes are good uh let's see now what else we got going on here we've got the uh oh right we've got these these little snap closures for these that's funny this guy seems pretty oh yeah just came across something i was talking about how nice the weathering was on this thing and i was working on this part tell me what you think you see there yeah you see what i see i see that this thing has been scenic scenic is a verb that is in the film industry means someone took someone made this dirty this didn't just get dirty it's funny i was looking at this thing thinking and that is a night that's like the kind of finish you get with acrylic paint and low i i guarantee you that is acrylic paint so what's funny is i bought i know i'm gonna keep on not saying what this is a case for even though it's probably the second comment in the comments but just keep my air of mystery um this was used for some film a film is kind of the only reason i could possibly imagine that someone would have taken a bunch of brown acrylic paint to the outside of a brown leather thing i mean i guess it could be a theater show but in addition this was also the genuine article this was the actual device used to hold a thing yeah all right fascinating um that guy is not flat and this guy is also well that one's flat oh that one's good okay so that's what it should feel like and this is what it does feel like yeah i see the problem all right let's pry that open with i'm gonna open it with a pry thingy i don't mean to get technical on y'all there we go yeah see that's all bent there let's fix that up actually well so i don't want to oh look at that it had a back thing so that fell out at some point all right i'm not gonna pull this one that would be one of the choices i could make i could pull both of these and then scrub on the outside but i don't want to do that that's funny that it was fake weathering because i will tell you when i watch weathering videos sometimes i feel like the rust they're showing that's not real rust i mean it's real rust it's clearly iron oxide but i don't know that that iron oxide was obtained in an honest fashion i said it i think some of those weathering videos might pre some of those restoration videos might pre-weather their stuff i don't want to cast aspersions so i'm not going to name anybody specific you know we all got to make a living i totally get that and i still enjoy watching them i just enjoy it more when i know it's absolutely genuine fascinating what happened under there what happened under there okay um that piece is and i'm gonna keep that one not pull this one when i pulled that one it's just it's not a great idea to bend tabs a lot the tabs that hold this in i'm gonna leave it out i mean i'm gonna take that one out leave that one in okay so now there's right the zipper has torn there and here the zipper is in terrific shape all the way up all the way up okay that's it for some good shape that's the behind the shape that's the person in good shape that zipper is in good shape it's only this one all right and it's good shape it's it's in good shape here it's just this part all right normally i should replace this whole zipper but i'm not gonna start there work my way around i can go through all the old holes and let's turn yeah so dude that's much better and i want to repair that part all right so let's do that too this big sewing needle i'm using is a book binders needle it's called a binder's needle uh i keep all sorts of different sizes and shapes of sewing needles around simply because i have always had a need for lots of different sizes and shapes of sewing needles do but it'll do but it'll do pig we're gonna do just a little bit of some ca glue solidifying of some of these pieces in here oh no oops got a little crazy glue on my hand that made i can always feel that it's a little hotter than it should be all right um i'm just going to add a little contact cement to some of the parts here so that i can stick them down and they will like be a little more cooperative so yeah that's what's about to happen nice i think that is all of that right there yeah yeah yeah all right if it was you if you were painting this and you know it's origin story fill me in i'd love to know that would be awesome uh so let me get some gloves on and get a little metal polish oh you do come out all right what wool hills bills margaret wow that was amazing all right here let's go in let's come on in here there is our button i want to clean that up i come in here and do a little bit of this action then i do a little bit of cleanup of it and it's like brand spanking new amazing all right yeah we're just going to keep on working our way through working our way back to you babe i'm figuring that any damage the leather sorry the metal polish does to the leather will actually be taken care of when i clean the leather later amazing um i'm gonna stop there and i'm gonna start doing that look at this look at this this is totally weathered fascinating all right shake well i really say shake well shake well all right very funny to collect a thing that i think is a real thing it turns out to be both a real thing and potentially there's been some storytelling going on this is doing a really good job of pulling the acrylic off of here um and it's not too rough on the leather i'm already a big fan of this leather cleaner la la clena all right yeah yeah yeah i feel like i've gotten the bulk of the dirt off yeah so now i'm gonna move to the quick detailer this cleans restores and protects this is just cleaning let's do a last pass i like that okay so i'm going to take this dirty rag put it over there and use this clean rag there we go oh smells good so i'm going to let that set tonight let it kind of think about what it did it looks way better already yeah that needs some real help there all right i'm going to add a little leather conditioner to the outside of this i'm very pleased with how it's coming out i'm going to put on some leather gloves leather gloves some rubber gloves the last thing i'm doing today and then when i come in tomorrow i'm going to give it a buff or maybe a second treat yep yep almost tricked me so all right all right go home for the night check in the morning so that's coming along um right now what i've got is some little tears in some of the most oft used places i've got a tear here and a tear here so i have painted the backs of those tears with a little barge glue little contact cement and i've got some patches here which i am going to utilize but i'm going to cut these in half because these are little strengthening pads that will go in and hopefully stop the deterioration or opening of that crack of that tear this one's a fairly large one we'll take care of that right now excellent and then i think i've got one more little strengthener i want to do over here all right yes that zipper is totally in in trouble we are almost finished with my restoration of this piece of recording equipment so i'm gonna hit it with one last treatment of some uh fibering saddle soap and then we'll give it a buff with some uh with the brush and that should take us home do i've got a little bit of schmutz on the front here and despite everything else being really really lovely that's shite i'm gonna take care of it sticky bad bad bad alexa play that song again all right well i am pleased i have restored it from two different processes one the process of age and other the process of scenicing um yeah let's show some b-roll of close-ups of how pretty this looks because it has a rich leather tone and it smells fantastic and yes um yeah the big reveal is this is to hold a nagra 4s a legendary stereo reel to reel studio quality recorder that you could sling over your shoulder it recorded every single movie from the mid 60s when it first appeared until i'm sure it is still recording movies uh but your bulk of movies are now recorded digitally but the the noise floor of the 4s famously low um you only wanted to plug you only want to plug the most incredible microphones into it to get the most out of it uh and soon i will get it and we'll do a show and tell about it because it's a piece of technology i want in this collection it's a magnificent an important piece of recording technology and i thought this was a suitable container for it are many different leather cases for it but i wanted one that felt old i had no idea i was buying one that was preceded hilarious i am i am sure that many people who work regularly with leather and leather restoration have all sorts of tips and tricks and ideas and favorite products and i'd love to know them my takeaway from watching a lot of videos of leather restoration is it is really about cleaning and then hydration and then uh maintenance allowing the oils and uh the various unjoints and waxes that you apply to soak into the leather and make it more supple and thus last longer i really uh i like the ease of use of these chemical guys products specifically the cleaner did it did a stunning job the metal polish is also pretty good i really really love the fibrins saddle soap that final finish is just delightful uh none of these are endorsements of any of these products they're just the ones that seemed to get the the right reviews and so i purchased them we'll include links to them in the description below um and yeah this this is me being so obsessive about the thing to fit the thing before i got the thing but it's quite on brand right um i'll see you guys next time cheers one of the things i love about this channel is that we don't make how-to videos so much as we make what happened videos and what almost always happens are mistakes and screw-ups in fact they're completely integral to making and honestly to being a person and to celebrate this tested has a new batch of demerit badges for the screw-ups you will encounter in the shop from left to right we have touching your paint job assembling things backwards losing a tiny screw or part gluing your fingers together and smashing your thumb and frankly if you haven't done both of these even if you're not a maker i just don't feel like you've experienced enough of the world i'm not saying get out a hammer and smash your thumb but i will tell you that the blackier your fingernail after the injury the less it's going to hurt in the long run i almost forgot these make excellent additions to your shop apron and they are available at tested store.com\n"