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Re: [ARSCLIST] Magnetic Tape - questions...
Hi, Melanie,
Your classroom notes are generally correct for North America. As the
American Institute of Physics, I'm assuming most of your collection
is from the U.S.
The exception to the rule is that German Radio's audio tape is wound
B-wind, or oxide out, but they still splice on the non-oxide side,
with the splicing tape facing away from the operator as it passes the heads.
The Ampex model 200A, introduced in 1947-1948 was B-wind, following
the German standard, but the tape was flipped, I believe to make
editing easier, with the model 201 and the model 300. All consumer
tape machines are A-wind, oxide away from the operator and in towards
the centre of the reel.
The other thing you may be seeing is A-wind tape, but that has a
black back-coating. It is duller than the polished oxide. This tape
is from the early 1970s and later. The back coating makes the tape
wind smoother and is slightly conductive and drains static charges.
Having a binder system on both sides of the tape _MAY_ accelerate
sticky-shed syndrome (Charlie Richardson makes that claim in his
patent on removing it).
I suspect you have "Back-coated" tape in the archive. The model
numbers would be 3M/Scotch 206, 207, 250, 808 and Ampex 456, among
others. These tapes (at least some of them) do suffer from
sticky-shed syndrome and typically are "baked" before playing. Do not
play a sticky-shed tape without this treatment as it can be
irreparably damaged.
Now, I don't want to talk about some of the tapes I've seen with
splicing tape wrapped completely around the tape and the tape tied
with a granny knot (they couldn't even make a proper square knot).
But we see all types of stuff in the restoration business.
I hope this helps.
Cheers,
Richard
At 03:25 PM 11/7/2005, you wrote:
I work in an archive of mixed materials - paper collections and
audio/visual collections. I am sorting through reel-to-reel 1/4"
audio tape, and I am seeing things that are making me doubt my prior
standards...
In the classroom and in many "best-practices" that I have read,
reels are recommended to be stored tails-out, oxide facing in. When
splicing repairs or attaching heads/tails, the splicing tape is to
be place on the backing of the tape - the shiny side.
In my travels through the archive, I am noticing many reels that are
wound shiny-side IN, and many many instances of splicing tape
applied to the dull, recorded side.
Are my standards too high? Am I remembering my classroom notes
backwards? Any thoughts would be appreciated, to help me make
"heads or tails" of this. Thank you!
Richard L. Hess email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Vignettes Media web: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/
Aurora, Ontario, Canada (905) 713 6733 1-877-TAPE-FIX
Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm