Cassette repair thread :/

[puritanwaste]

I was blasting an incredibly rare Evil Moisture tape the other day and, to my horror, when I rewound the tape, one end of the magnetic tape separated from the spool. Has anyone had this happen with a rare tape before and had to fix it? I'm trying to figure out the best way to fix the damn thing.

[Bubble-Congeries]

Unless audio begins immediately after the tape leader, your best purpose-built solution is to simply tape the leader-tape connection with proper splicing adhesive tape. Make sure it's specifically designed for tape splicing.

I think you'd be hard-pressed to find direct-application adhesives made for this as easily as splicing tape. But if you can find a suitable archival glue that will bond properly, that would be a more "perfect" solution.

[adult human]

I was blasting an incredibly rare Evil Moisture tape the other day and, to my horror, when I rewound the tape, one end of the magnetic tape separated from the spool. Has anyone had this happen with a rare tape before and had to fix it? I'm trying to figure out the best way to fix the damn thing.

First thing is you have to be able to unscrew and open up the cassette shell. If not, you're kind of fucked, sadly, unless you are prepared to savagely break open and rehouse everything into a new one.

If the tape leader was glued to the reel you're going to have a more tricky job gluing it back as per the last poster's advice. It might be better to find a different reel with a removable piece of plastic that you can attach the leader to instead. You can find these in a lot of blank tapes but you'll need to sacrifice one you don't care about. When I worked in an audio archive I had to do this all the time with cassettes that detached for various reasons. It was more often to do with the plastic on the reels breaking than the tape snapping but in all cases I basically had a bank of sacrificial cassettes that I plundered for parts. Wrote an article about it for some impossibly obscure archive magazine which I can share if you want to see a step by step guide with pictures.

[Theodore]

Yeah, happens. That's why i have learned my lesson and i dont FF/RW old tapes till the end or very close to it. I also have a 'Bib cassette tape splicer' complete kit which makes the job less 'messy' . Google it but dont pay stupid money. If you cant find one, dont worry, you only really need -better proper- splicing tape and a little more patient. Given the cassette has screws you will able to fix it like nothing happened. At the worst you maybe have to cut 1-2cm of tape to make a perfect splice.

[Bubble-Congeries]

I might've misread the OP... It's pretty rare for leaders to actually break off the spools, as opposed to the tape detaching from the leader, so I assumed it was the later. Maybe for some cassette designs it could happen, though most leaders are effectively fused to the spools with a little locking pin that traps the leader inside a cutout in the spool.

Anyway, another "PROTIP" for if the tape gets lost inside the takeup reel end of a welded cassette: I've had good luck retrieving trapped ends by closing my lips around the slot that the tape passes through and sucking them out... Your results may vary...

I have never opened a welded (screwless) tape shell without doing some amount of irreversible damage, though in theory, it should be possible without perceptible cosmetic damage. Screws > Welding always.

[Theodore]

It's pretty rare for leaders to actually break off the spools, as opposed to the tape detaching from the leader, so I assumed it was the later.

Anyway, another "PROTIP" for if the tape gets lost inside the takeup reel end of a welded cassette: I've had good luck retrieving trapped ends by closing my lips around the slot that the tape passes through and sucking them out... Your results may vary...

My assumption was same as yours. I have never seen leader breaking off at that point.

Ha, that's an interesting tip ! I have such a cassette where leader [Or tape. Dont remember] has stayed in the shell. I was about to break it, though i put it aside and let it be -for a while at least- . I ll try it. I dont have any expectations to be honest but who knows ... Lets give that tape a blowjob.

[Scream & Writhe]

Anyway, another "PROTIP" for if the tape gets lost inside the takeup reel end of a welded cassette: I've had good luck retrieving trapped ends by closing my lips around the slot that the tape passes through and sucking them out... Your results may vary...

I might do it for a new tape, but just thinking about inhaling all the dust and mould that might be found within older tapes is absolutely terrifying to me.

[Zalhietzli]

First, open the cassette shell. If it has screws, that's very easy with a screwdriver. If not, the only solution is to force it open, which may damage the plastic shell or even break it. If you value the audio on the tape over the "mintness" of the plastic shell, that is still a better option than leaving the tape broken.
The spool is made of two parts that "snap" like pieces of a puzzle, holding the tape pinched between the two parts while playback. Simply detach the two pieces, remove the bit of tape that is probably still stuck there, put back the loose end of the tape in the "hole" of the big part of the spool, and snap the small part over it (don't slide). Easier said than done, I know. Pressing the two parts together against a flat stable surface like a table should help. Trying to slide back the two pieces with the tape in the middle is too tricky, as the tape will probably slip away.

I am sorry if my explanations are not very clear. I do this kind of things often while making tape loops, but I don't really care about degrading the tape by being too rough with it. Tape can be surprisingly resilient to the kind of bullshit I put it through. That said, I use new tape, so I'm not sure how easy it would be with older tape.

[htp_systems]

Wrote an article about it for some impossibly obscure archive magazine which I can share if you want to see a step by step guide with pictures.

I'd be curious to read this article if you wouldn't mind sharing!

[33033]

Just bought a tape where I went to rewind and…leader is not connected and the cassette isn’t a screw together one fuuuuuu

[htp_systems]

Just bought a tape where I went to rewind and…leader is not connected and the cassette isn’t a screw together one fuuuuuu

You could try pulling out the broken end of the cassette tape and the broken end of the leader and trying to tape them together outside of the enclosure and then rewind. You could potentially copy the material to another cassette or digitize it. Sucks that there aren't any screws... best of luck!

[33033]

Just bought a tape where I went to rewind and…leader is not connected and the cassette isn’t a screw together one fuuuuuu

You could try pulling out the broken end of the cassette tape and the broken end of the leader and trying to tape them together outside of the enclosure and then rewind. You could potentially copy the material to another cassette or digitize it. Sucks that there aren't any screws... best of luck!

Yep tried that and...the tape itself was shredded, not the leader. Bought the release digital and will dub it now on a separate tape...gshguh