A Question About Tape Baking

D

Darkshark

Diamond Rio Monitors
Been doing some research on Baking magnetic tape in the hopes to restore some audio between my grandfather and my father. That is how they communicated while my Dad was in Korea, by sending tapes to each other.

My Dad has these tapes....... they have not been played in 50yrs. So I need to get this right.... my Dad told me he would like to hear HIS fathers voice again.

Anyway, those tape are gonna be on a plastic reel...... can a plastic reel take baking at 120 degrees for 5 or 6 hours?

Or how would one handle this transfer to digital, with such a fragile and one of a kind recording?

Thanks for any and all help.... I'm gonna need it.

DS
 
I'm definitely not the expert, but if the tapes are 50 yrs+ old, then they are likely an early acetate based tape. I have never heard of tapes that old having the sticky problem. That was something that cropped up in the 80's on the newer tapes due to a change in the binder used for binding the oxide to the tape.

I would think you would NOT want to bake these old tapes. They don't need it. They are likely to be rather fragile in any case. You would want to use a quality tape deck that is gentle so you dont break them. I'd stongly suggest dumping them to another, more robust media (cassette/ cd/ computer/ etc) on the very first play. High fidelity is not the issue here; archiving the precious voices is.
 
Don't !!!

Don't bake those tapes. Baking is for a specific problem with the backcoating binder (read glue). Most likely your tapes do not have backcaotings (which would appear black in color. And came in existance after the Korean War.

Also if those tapes were acetate baking would turn them into an unplayable mess.

Hold one of the tapes up to the light and look through the reel. If light gets through then the tapes are acetate and are most likely very brittle. If they block the light then they are polyester.

Do you know the tape type?

There are some very "light oils" mafe to recondition acetate video film that are said to work without problems on acetate audio. YMMV

If they are just polyester they you should be "good to go".

What does the tape look like and why do you want to bake it (or recondition it)?

Regards, Ethan
 
technoplayer and Ethan are correct... don't bake tapes that old. They are probably acetate-based tapes, but they could be early polyester based.

Another sure way to know if they are acetate is they will smell like vinegar. If you can post a pic and find out more info we may be able to help you salvage some of the tapes.

~Timothy
 
I haven't seen the tapes just yet, my Dad is looking for them (probably in some closet somewhere). I am just trying to prepare for when I get my hands on them. I have a DAW rig setup and have acquired some analog tape decks for this very project. When I get them, I will post pics and progress. I am a little worried about handling them. But this is a project worth doing.

Kind Regards,

DS
 
All thees guys have the right idea. BTW if you want to know anything and everything about tape just look at some of Beck's threads on magnetic tape. Also, did you mention in a thread you were looking for a manual for your 38? PM me if you need one.
 
My older tapes

I have tapes my dad made in the early 50's. They are fine. I'd try a second tape recorder first. Clean the heads with alcohol and demagnetize. Also, always store take laying flat and keep away from heat as much as possible.
 
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