[78-L] question on tape baking

[Michael Biel]

-------- Original Message --------
 Subject: Re: [78-L] question on tape baking
 From: "Robert M. Bratcher Jr." <bratcher at pdq.net>
 Date: Thu, September 17, 2009 1:27 pm
 To: 78-L Mail List <78-l at klickitat.78online.com> 

dl wrote:
> > It may be the same as Ampex 291, which was sold
> > as for educational use.
 
> I don't think I've ever seen Ampex 291. Was that another
> reject tape sold cheaply?
 
I seem to recall it was in orange and brown boxes.  I think I have some
of it from our school library.  Educational sales were usually bulk
sales.

> Oh & did you know that cassettes from the 80's squeal on playback? 
> I've thrown several sermon tapes away because they started squealing.....
 
There are two factors with cassettes, the tape and the pressure pads.  I
used to have occasional problems in the early days with my Wollensaks.
etc. when a tape would squeal because the pressure pad was hitting it at
the wrong angle.  I would slightly bend the pad support to change the
angle, and/or scrape the pad face to take the gloss off of it.  Putting
a piece of splicing tape over the pad also helped, especially when using
carbon backcoated tapes that were meant to be rough surfaced.  The same
thing happens with the pressure pads inside cassettes.  It is unusual to
have carbon backcoated tapes in cassettes, and those are the usual tapes
affected by sticky shed.  Lack of lubrication is the more usual suspect
with cassettes.

Mike Biel  mbiel at mbiel.com