Is there a way to tell if a tape will shed without playing it?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Whoopysnorp
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Whoopysnorp

Whoopysnorp

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I have this tape containing my dad's thesis project from when he was in electronic music school. I don't know what brand of tape it is, but it was recorded December 1976. I know chances are very high that it would shed like crazy, but is there some kind of test you can do to be sure without putting it on a tape machine? Like a finger rub or something?
 
Tape is made in layers. Professional audiotape like AMPEX 456 is basically a plastic (Mylar) ribbon with magnetic oxide on one side and a (usually darker) carbon-based backcoating on the other. The backcoating improves tape handling through the transport because it is not slick like the top of the tape that is in contact with the heads. It also helps reduce print-through and controls static.

If it has no backcoating both sides of the tape will look much the same… usually brown… some darker, some lighter shades of brown.

As you hold a reel in your hand the back of the tape will be either black or brown. If it is black and less shiny than the top side you have backcoating.

The date the tape was made is the best way to decide if it has sticky-shed. Many brands of tape that old with backcoating will most likely have problems. If you must try to run it, only rewind and fast-forward. Then check the lifters to see if they have a glue-like substance built up. The tape may also run very slowly or even stop due to the friction of the sticky-shed. Avoid playing the tape. You want to keep the sticky away from the heads and pinch-roller at all costs.

Also make sure to clean the lifters and guides that the tape has come into contact with before using the machine again.

Some backcoated tapes don’t have sticky-shed. If it is Maxell or BASF you won’t have a problem.

:)
 

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Ah, I see. It does have backcoating. No idea what brand of tape it is though, or when it was actually manufactured.
 
It's very possible it'll have shedding. Can you provide a photo? Maybe we can tell, more or less, what it is..? It's worth a shot anyway. ;)
 
Well, after painstakingly winding the tape by hand from its plastic 7" reel onto a metal 10.5" reel and attempting to rewind it, I can confirm that it is shedding. I'm glad I only let it wind back on the guides for a short time or I would have had a big mess on my hands. I got it wound back to tails out position by letting it run on the tension arms only (for a bit of guidance) and holding them open with my hands, but it was a pretty crappy wind and made for a rather uneven pack. I guess it's time to figure out how to bake it before it has a chance to sit that way for too long.
 
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