How often do you have to service your Studer or Otari deck ? Home not pro environment.

I have two Otari decks, one a transport only (signal direct from the heads) and the other I use to record. The 5050's are work horses and I use mine a lot. I have no problem finding tapes at reasonable costs and I trade a lot which is also an economical way to get music. I have two good techs, one recommended to me by Paul Stubbelbine and the other by Ralph Karsten (Soren Witt in Chicago). Both have serviced my decks, but just once in the time I have owned them. Otherwise just cleaning the heads and rollers. I would also recommend Athan Corporation for aftermarket parts and JFR Magnetic Services for tape heads.

Is 10k hours a  realistic figure for a reproduction head ? Are Studer and Otari any different in that ? If I am not mistaken, Studers had an option of two different types of heads, and I have no idea of those differences. I would say that I would play tapes maybe 500 hours a year, no more, perhaps less.
Open reel decks is a complicated subject, and an interesting one.
To do barter with tapes I would need two decks to keep a copy.

@inna

Inna - If I am not mistaken, Studers had an option of two different types of heads, and I have no idea of those differences.

My tech explained the differences to me well, when I asked him about an "Ultra Analogue Recording"s tape that I bought as a past customer.

UAR link - they have a samples button to preview the music

https://ultraanaloguerecordings.com/new/

I was introduced to UAR through Roger when I was looking for tapes. He did the set up of their recording machines. IMO very musical and involving. Some of the reasons behind this are explained here in an email to me.

Roger Ginsely

"Initially we debated over using butterfly heads (0.75mm gap) versus the more standard 2mm stereo heads. We opted for butterfly as there is more recorded area used. This does have the slight drawback of more crosstalk between channels (they are closer together) but for classical recording this works out extremely well. There is far more `blending’ between channels producing a wider and fatter result. Of course butterfly used for say rock recording would not be advise able as instruments panned hard left and hard right would tend to be dragged more towards the centre which would result in some clutter and lack of definition."

Butterfly and Stereo Heads

ct0517, thank you.
I don't listen to classical music much, mostly small scale acoustic music, paricularly guitar, and vocal, and good jazzrock. 
Standard head for me, I guess.

The weak point of vintage tape gear is the OEM caps. One moment I was enjoying Heart Like a Wheel, the next there was a sharp crack and a cloud of acrid smoke. The dead cap will be split open like the Alien making it easy to spot. You have to be somewhat careful with replacing. Can't just use any cap with the same rating. 

A80 VU II about 500 hours. It ain't the hours,  it's the years. Eventually electolytic caps fail but it takes years so not often.

The A80 is an amazing machine. Flat frequency response 20 to 20 khz. Once set up it doesn't drift. Just don't move it. A joy to use. You will love the solid ker chunk when you press the play button.

I like Agfa 468 tape. You can still get it from Recording the Masters.  Ampex 456 sounds bright to my ears.  No experience with 3M. 1/4 inch 15ips use CCIR equalization. Get calibration tape from Magnetic Reference Labs.

It ain't the servicing. It's the cleaning. You clean everything that contacts the tape before every play. 

American Recorder sells tape head cleaner to clean all metal parts.Use 409 for the pinch wheel. Yeah that 409 from the market.