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In Reply to: RE: Can a spliced cassette tape ruin a deck? posted by vinyltapecd on June 23, 2009 at 14:09:37
If the tape was spliced with proper splicing tape there will not be a problem. If it was spliced with ordinary household tape, then you should manually go through the tape and redo the splices with proper splicing tape and a proper splicing block. You should practice splicing technique using an old tape that you don't care about before working on your valuable tape. I don't know what solvent you should use to remove any sticky goo from the old scotch tape. Perhaps someone can comment on this.
Some decks will do horrible things if a tape breaks when playing, so your concern is justified. If this happens you may have a bunch of crinkled tape and it is hard to smooth this out to make the tape playable without dropouts. Other decks, such as my Nak CR-7a, simply shut off before any damage is done.
Good luck.
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
Ok thanks for the reply. Given that I have used Scotch tape, do you recommend taking apart the entire splice and redoing it with proper tape? I am just afraid that this will mess the tape up even more than it is now, since I'm sure that there will inevitably be residue from the Scotch tape which may be impossible to remove. Worst of all, I have a feeling that fragments of tape may actually get stuck on the Scotch tape when I try to take the splice apart, given that it has been adhered like this for 2 years now. Taking all of this into account, I'd rather not mess with the splice unless it would almost certainly cause a problem.
Actually, my deck is a Nakamichi DR-1, so it has that auto shutoff feature which should presumably prevent the tape from getting completely eaten up. However, because it is quite an old deck, I can't be sure that the sensor that is SUPPOSED to detect a problem will actually work. Also, I am afraid that even if the tape isn't actually eaten, the Scotch tape may come off and get stuck somewhere such as on the head, pinch rollers, or capstans. Is this a sensible fear? I would like to preserve this tape if possible, so if there is not too much of a risk, I am willing to take a chance. What do you think?
If the tape is truly valuable, I would have the deck checked out by an expert and adjusted. I would try a number of other tapes and transfer these to computer and make sure that you have the process down correctly, including level settings that are appropriate for tapes of the type in question.
Then, and only then, I would play the valuable tape. I think you can clean up a little residue on the desk if a bad splice causes problems. It is necessary to regularly clean all of the parts in contact with the deck in any event. This is just routine maintenance.
Old tapes may have loose oxide and this sheds. Hence the first playing may be better than a subsequent one. You want to have this first playing properly recorded in the computer. It may have fewer dropouts.
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
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