Dave Baker wrote:


It's not the capstan, it's the flywheel, that needs attention.

It would help if you properly described what bit you are actually talking
about.

He did. He said it's the flywheel. You then spend the rest of your post
ranting about the capstan. Perhaps you could spend slightly less time
being angry and slightly more time reading?

If he reduces the diameter of the flywheel and the flywheel is driven by
a belt then reducing the diameter of the flywheel will speed the tape
up.

Piddling about with the flywheel and flatting it in an attempt to remove
pits (which is just about inevitable if one does it by hand) will
introduce "wow". It depends if the aim is to have a working tape
recorder or a pretty one that doesn't function properly.