Date:         Tue, 28 Oct 2003 11:41:32 +0100
Reply-To:     Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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Sender:       Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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From:         Jos Van Dyck <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: tape deterioration: cassettes
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Cassette squealing is mostly due to the friction of the pressure pad on the
tape.
The backside of some tapes is rather rough or sticky (cheap pancake stock).
Replacing the pressure pad with new felt usually works.
Or try using a high-end cassette deck (e.g. Nakamichi) that doesn't rely on
a pressure pad (in fact pushes it back), but on tape tension.

Jos

-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Richard L. Hess
Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2003 8:38 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] tape deterioration: cassettes


At 02:24 AM 10/28/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>In a message dated 10/28/03 5:02:45 AM, [log in to unmask] writes:
>
><< One question is does the baking also work on cassette tapes? >>
>
>I don't have any hard information on this.


The deterioration of cassettes is more as Dave says. I would not rule out
baking a cassette, but I'd put it in a new shell first and try it.

The biggest problem I've had has been one or two squealing tapes that did
not respond to baking. I ended up liberally applying Last Factory stuff to
it and finally it worked, but it took a whole afternoon.

Hmmm...talk about losing money on a transfer!

Cheers,

Richard