I’ve never repaired a tape before. To be honest, it’s not something I’ll ever make a living out of what with the rise of the CD and all. Still, sometimes you get to try these things.
The demise of the audio cassette has resulted in a lot of people selling them off. Most are rubbish compilation albums but amongst the dross you can find gems. I’ve now nearly completed my collection of “I’m sorry I haven’t a clue” at bargain prices on eBay.
Out of all the tapes I managed to get a single duff one. Obviously rewound far to fast, the tape had broken off from the reel. Not soemthing you spot until it goes back in the player and doesn’t work.
Fortunately in the back of the cupboard holding “things that will come in handy one day”, I had a tape splicing and repair kit. It’s meant to allow you to edit tapes by splicing them together. When I worked for a hospital radio station I fancied having a crack at this. Of course this has now gone the way of the tape as all editing is carried out digitally.
Still I had my kit and once the front and back of the cassette were separate by sliding a sharpish scalpel down the join the tape was re-attached to the reel with the bright yellow sticky tape provided. A little rethreading and touch of glue to put the cassette back together and the tape was as good as new.
It took less time to do than to write and was good fun. I don’t feel half as guilty about the junk in the cupboard. Who knows what I’ll be able to fix next time ?
The tape was very funny too !
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