Gramdeck: The 1950s tape recorder that you put on a record player

Talk about synchronicity!

I was thinking about this exact same sort of thing during last night. Why did I think of this thing that happened 70-odd years ago? I have no clue.

Way back in the early-mid 1950s, my brother bought a 'home music studio". I have no other word for it. This audio machine was a record player for 78s, 45s and 33s, a record cutter using acetate blanks, and a tape recorder; all-in-one in a timber case with handle, about 2-feet square.

In today's money, it must have been the equivalent of about 3 grand. I know my old man was not at all happy with my brother's expenditure.

The machine used BASF tape in 7-inch reels. The tape deck was more triangular in shape than the Gramdeck pictured. If my memory is correct, this was called a 'ByerCorder', or maybe 'BeyerCorder'.

Basically, it sat on the central spindle of the turntable at one corner of the triangle, and two other rubber feet sat on the outside of the turntable at the other 2 corners of the triangle. The turntable spindle directly rotated the rubber capstan of the tape-deck. That capstan was about an inch and a half in diameter.