Magnetic recording is kinda fascinating because it is conceptually simple but very hard to do well. Conceptually all you need for a tape machine is two small wr

Magnetic recording is kinda fascinating because it is conceptually simple but very hard to do well. Conceptually all you need for a tape machine is two small write coils (erase+write) and the bias oscillator. In practice the "small coils" are complex precision parts. The circuitry of a Nagra is fairly straightforward to replicate, but building comparable tape heads in your workshop will take years.