playability of 35-yr old cassette tapes

Subject: playability of 35-yr old cassette tapes
From: Dave Ruch
Date: 05 Jul 06 - 01:36 PM

Does anybody have any suggestions for playing/recording a batch of 35-yr old cassette tapes? It seems that some of them have lost the little pad in the center of the bottom section (where the tape runs through 5 little windows). Will they be playable? Are the measures that can/should be taken before playing them?

Thanks for all advice!

Subject: RE: playability of 35-yr old cassette tapes
From: wysiwyg
Date: 05 Jul 06 - 01:51 PM

They CAN be rewound onto new cassette cases. I've done it once or twice when one has come unglued from it's spindle or when a mechanical part has been missing. But it's laborious...

On any older tapes I've played I've tended to hear a loud squeak.shriek continuously along with the music being played.

I know Mudcatter wilbyhillbilly has had good success converting old tapes to digital files. I dunno if that includes the situation you describe but he might have some advice to offer. See: http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=88918#1680933 and http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=85997#1596570.

~S~

Subject: RE: playability of 35-yr old cassette tapes
From: Bill D
Date: 05 Jul 06 - 01:53 PM

It's a throw of the dice.
If they were stored without too much humidity, they might be fine...(I have some that are ok)...if they have been played a few times in the interim, so that the oxides have not flaked, and the music has not 'bled thru' they may be ok.
You just have to try one & see...(unless you have obscene amounts of money to spend on professional restoration)

Subject: RE: playability of 35-yr old cassette tapes
From: danensis
Date: 05 Jul 06 - 02:24 PM

You definitely want to spool them from end to end before trying to play them,

John

Subject: RE: playability of 35-yr old cassette tapes
From: wysiwyg
Date: 05 Jul 06 - 02:26 PM

And of course any that you try to play, definitely have a recorder going to digitize them. You might only get one play out of them before they deteriorate further.

~S~

Subject: RE: playability of 35-yr old cassette tapes
From: GUEST,old cassette dude
Date: 05 Jul 06 - 02:37 PM

I've got plenty of high quality (Maxell, TDK) cassettes which sound about as good as they did 40 years ago. I've got some poorer quality cassettes (Realistic) which have suffered brittleness, de-lamination, and mechanical breakdown.

the better brands were put together with screws, so if you lose that contact pad (and you need it there to play back accurately), you can pull out the parts and either glue them back together or you can replace them.

It is possible to splice cassette tapes (once you open them up to retrieve the ends) but finding good splice kits is getting tougher.

If you have an album you care about, chances are good you can find a CD of it. If you have a mix tape or family voice tape you care about, consider digitizing it or having it digitized and 're-released' on CD.

Subject: RE: playability of 35-yr old cassette tapes
From: Dave Ruch
Date: 05 Jul 06 - 03:02 PM

WYSI - thanks so much for the thread references.

Bill D - they have likely NOT been played since they were recorded, and the brand names seem to vary, though a good number of them are Sony.

Danesis - what does that mean, to "spool them from end to end"?

GUEST ocd - thanks for the screws idea. Might some simple Elmer's glue work to glue the contact pad back onto the metal lever that holds it?

Thanks to all...

Subject: RE: playability of 35-yr old cassette tapes
From: pdq
Date: 05 Jul 06 - 03:17 PM

How many cassettes are we talking about?

How many have cases that are held together by screws (usually 5 in number) and how many are glued together?

How many are missing the contact pad completely and how many have a spring but no felt on it?

Where to go with this depends a lot on the above questions.

BTW, Elmer's glue is not the correct choice for gluing back a contact pad.

Subject: RE: playability of 35-yr old cassette tapes
From: treewind
Date: 05 Jul 06 - 03:22 PM

"spool them from end to end"

Put in the cassette player, fast forward all the way to the end, then rewind all the way back to the beginning. Only then play to transcribe to any other medium.

The reason for doing this is to reduce print-through - the phenomenon where a faint echo of the sound is transferred magnetically from one layer to the next while the tape is stored packed tightly on the spool.

It's also called "excercising" the tape and it's always done by professionals with any tape (even 2" open reel studio tape) that's been stored for a long time.

Anahata

Subject: RE: playability of 35-yr old cassette tapes
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 05 Jul 06 - 03:50 PM

As some have said, better quality cassettes are held together with screws, but some are glued (most likely a heat weld).

The ones with screws usually can be opened up to repair/replace the pads and then closed back up.

For ones that are glued/welded together, you'll have to split the case to get to any parts that need fixed. I haven't checked recently, but sometime back Radio Shack carried "repair cassettes" with no tape in them just for that purpose. The repair cassettes of course go together with screws. Other similar "audio/electronics" shops would be likely to have something similar, but it's getting hard even to find a good retailer for pieces and parts of that sort.

Even a lot of the S.... Shacks have quit carrying the DIY stuff, but you usually can order from their catalog.

John

Subject: RE: playability of 35-yr old cassette tapes
From: Dave Ruch
Date: 05 Jul 06 - 03:51 PM

The cassettes number around 50-60, and I'd say 2/3 of them have screws. Most that I've looked at either have the contact pad intact, or have lost just the felt.

Subject: RE: playability of 35-yr old cassette tapes
From: pdq
Date: 05 Jul 06 - 05:24 PM

Here are some desultory ideas:

       #) Separate the 10-20 'cheap' cassettes, the ones that are 'glued' together, and see how many have music you can't live without. Items such as "101 Banjos Play The Beatles", Myron Floren's Greatest Hits or anything by Al Martino deserve an humane burial.

       *) With the quality cassettes, the ones with screws, do a similar 'value judgement' concerning the musical content. For each one with 'trash music', take a rubber band and 'pair' that unit with a 'bad case/good music' one.

       +) Set up a proper work area with at least two incandescent bulbs and, if possible, a florescent unit located somewhat higher the others. Provision the area with proper tools such as tiny philips screwdriver, solvent-based glue for non-porous materials, a splice kit and a few 'cassette repair kits' from Radio Shack.

       =) With same-brand cassettes you can probably un-screw the case sides and transplant the reels, tape and all, into a usable case.

       ^) The cheap 'glued case' units were most likely supplied with cheap tape and are more likely to have fidelity problems. They often come a tiny block of foam plastic in lieu of the 'spring and felt' type contact pad. These bits of foam are always hard and un-usable or they have fallen-off completely. Don' try to use such cases again. Cut open with saw and pull reels and tape. If the reels can't be transplanted into a serviceable case, you will probably need to wind the tape into another case.

Subject: RE: playability of 35-yr old cassette tapes
From: Effsee
Date: 05 Jul 06 - 08:50 PM

"spool them from end to end"
Be prepared that the tape will probably separate from the leader tape if you do this with old tapes.

Subject: RE: playability of 35-yr old cassette tapes
From: Dave Ruch
Date: 06 Jul 06 - 12:31 PM

Thank you one and all!

Subject: RE: playability of 35-yr old cassette tapes
From: wysiwyg
Date: 06 Jul 06 - 12:47 PM

Be sure to report back, OK?

~S~

Subject: RE: playability of 35-yr old cassette tapes
From: Kaleea
Date: 06 Jul 06 - 01:38 PM

I believe that some of them should play just fine without any trouble, as I know people who have done this.
Crazy "new" thing- there are some people who are into finding 2nd hand 8 track tapes & players & playing them. It must be because they enjoy having the track change in the middle of a song.