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Re: BROKEN TAPES

Subject: Re: BROKEN TAPES
From: Marty Michener <>
Date: Wed, 05 Oct 2005 08:53:21 -0400
At 01:09 AM 10/5/2005, you wrote:
>Dear All,
>
>Paul Coopmans wrote the below and asked me if I had any ideas on how to
>repair his broken cassette tape. Does anyone have any ideas on how Paul
>can fix
>his cassette tape? I don't know much about this!
>
>Thank you,
>
>John
>John V. Moore Nature Recordings
>

Historical note:  Prof. P. P. Kellogg strongly advised me in 1957 to buy an=

"EdiTall" block, designed for 1/4 inch studio tape. This I still have. It
is about the size and shape of a Hershey's bar, made of Aluminum alloy,
with a special 1/4 inch groove in the top from left to right, with a
concave bottom to the groove that holds tape in it.  Also, it has a narrow=

45 degree cut running across it top to bottom.  You press both ends of the=

broken tape into the groove, one on top of the other. Slide a fresh
single-edged razor diagonally down across both. Remove the free end just
cut, and press splicing tape left to right over the now-mended splice.

Never use scotch tape, magic-mending tape or any other - the adhesive will=

squirt out under the pressure of being wound on the reel, and gum up not
only your heads but adjacent winds on the same reel.

For cassettes: the tape is only 0.15 inches wide, not 0.25 inches, but the=

EdiTall block can, with additional temporary pieces of scotch tape to
secure both ends, be successfully used in a similar manner.  You need to
trim up with scissors afterward.

Lacking such a block, I would scotch tape a plastic ruler on a clean flat
surface, then the two broken ends (cut out any stretched tape!)  butted to=

each other, again using temporary NEW scotch tape to line them up (use a
hand lens). Then apply the splicing tape. Finally use fine scissors to trim=

the tape straight --- actually, cut slightly INTO the tape edges and make
the joint MORE NARROW than the main tape so it will pass the guides easily.

--  best regards,  Marty Michener
MIST Software Assoc. Inc.,  P. O. Box 269, Hollis, NH 03049
http://www.enjoybirds.com/





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