A charming vintage rim drive tape recorder from the 1960's gets new life! Mayfair is a highly collectible brand of vintage reel to reel tape recorder. The 1600 and the 1602 are noted for minimalist simplicity of design and sleek appearance. With it's 1960's retro coloring (avocado and cream) and flash of elegance (silver metal reel platters), the machine caught the eye, if not the ear! Though the Mayfair 1600 is a rim drive tape recorder, it has a certain charm to it, not the least of which is that it only requires two batteries! As vintage electronics go, this machine is rather low tech, yet it has acceptable audio quality and ease of operation. The tape recorder shown here is very rare and arrived in pretty bad condition. The case window was missing, the battery compartment was corroded and the rubber idler wheels (unusual in a rim drive reel to reel tape recorder) had dried out and lost their grip. With the help of some cleaning chemicals, I was able to clean up the corrosion and restore some grip to the idler wheels, bringing the machine back to functionality. This machine uses a 1.5 volt amplifier and DC bias. It is optimized for a crystal microphone (typical of rim drive technology) which did not come with it when I bought it on E-Bay. I am looking for a nice, reasonably priced crystal microphone typical of machines from this time period. If anyone knows of one for sale, please leave me a message. In spite of the problems, I was able to get the machine back up and running. While it is completely unsuitable for music (as most rim drive tape recorders are - the technology does not support constant speed the way capstan drive technology does) it has a certain charm to it. Its use of idler wheels is unusual in a rim drive tape recorder. Even as a vintage recorder, it cannot be considered serious audio equipment, but the electronics are so simple that they are pretty dependable, even after 40 years and who knows how many years of neglect, under who knows what conditions. I have a certain fondness for this little charmer. Don't know why. I just like it!