RE: [AV Media Matters] Newbie to list, Pellon

[Graeme Jaye <gjaye@retemail.es>]

At 09:38 22/12/99 -0800, you wrote:

>If there is sufficient (adhesive)
>oligomer debris to cause adjacent wraps to stick together, attempting to
>wipe a tape without some other pre-treatment can rip off sections of the
>recording layer that are adhering more strongly to the adjacent backcoat
>than to the basecoat.

Which is basically the problem I have found.  If you can't unwind it
without doing further damage, such as you describe, then I fail to see any
advantage in using any method which involves despooling the tape .

>Pellon is no more a magic solution to sticky-shed than any other method. It
>is simply a good wiping tissue.  The key is in how you use any given
>treatment and knowing when to apply it.

All the tapes I have worked on have a known history -not flood damaged or
anything like that, but obviously subjected to variable storage conditions
over the years.  Having destroyed the first tape by the very process of
spooling it, resulting in large chunks of oxide missing from the backing
tape, there seemed little point in pursuing any method which required the
tape to be unwound.  Hence, for me, baking was the only practical solution.

Baking has resulted in my being able to recover all the tapes I have worked
on to date (except the first, which was a bit of a basket case after
spooling :-) ).  As pointed out elsewhere, a tape *can* be baked a second
time if the problem re-appears.  I had to do this a couple of times before
I started sealing the tapes in polythene bags, since when they have always
been playable for the period between baking and transfer - usually less
than three weeks, but sometimes a little longer.

Obviously, my concern was the material recorded on these tapes, not the
tape itself.  That went into the bin.

Graeme Jaye
gjaye@retemail.es

Personal-CD - Affordable Audio Restoration

http://www.personal-cd.com