Re: arsclist Rejuvenating curled acetate tape

["Steven Smolian" <smolians@xxxxxxxxx>]

Be careful.  1935 tape and post-world war II acetate are of different
chemichal composition.

For postwar acetate, I simply leave it in a normal, atmosphrere, somewhat
humid, a closed, roomy (and rheumy) drawer with a wet-to-damp sponge, and
leave it for a few moths or more.

If you MUST havde it right away, be prepared to put up with some hiss and
copy it from a pressure-pad player.  This is better for speech than music,
as the tape, unless flat-wound, will cause phase shift. As objectionable as
this is in for mono, it is far worse if its' music and in stereo,  in which
case the slow fix is far preferable.

Steve Smolian

=========================
Steven Smolian    301-694-5134
Smolian Sound Studios
---------------------------------------------------
CDs made from old recordings,
Five or one or lifetime hoardings,
Made at home or concert hall,
Text and pics explain it all.
at www.soundsaver.com
=========================
----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard L. Hess" <arclists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2002 3:06 AM
Subject: Re: arsclist Rejuvenating curled acetate tape


> I had great success with a piece of circa 1935 carbonyl iron tape that I
> placed in a high-humidity environment for about 24 hours. It was like
satin
> ribbon when it came out.
>
> Too bad there was no interesting program on it.
>
> I used a large rectangular plastic container with a lid. I then placed
> stands in it to hold the tape about 4-inches off the bottom.  I put an
inch
> of water in the bottom. Put the lid on. Came back later.
>
> The tape was in a can, but doesn't need to be.
>
> Anyone have any thoughts on a 1976 3M dictation cassette that's
> squeaking--not sticky shed? It is causing audible scrape flutter in the
> transfer.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Richard
>
> At 02:34 PM 10/7/2002 -0400, you wrote:
> >I recall some anecdotal information from several years about
> >someone rendering cupped and curled acetate tapes more pliable
> >by bathing them in a high humidity environment.
> >
> >Is there anything to this?  Are there other techniques, say
> >applying an appropriate plasticizer or lubricant, that can
> >be brought to bear on this problem?  What about mechanical
> >re-forming...maybe long term mild heat after a careful
> >'library' winding?
> >
> >
> >Jeff
> >-
> >For subscription instructions, see the ARSC home page
> >http://www.arsc-audio.org/arsclist.html
> >Copyright of individual posting is owned by the author of the posting and
> >permission to re-transmit or publish a post must be secured
> >from the author of the post.
>
> -
> For subscription instructions, see the ARSC home page
> http://www.arsc-audio.org/arsclist.html
> Copyright of individual posting is owned by the author of the posting and
> permission to re-transmit or publish a post must be secured
> from the author of the post.
>

-
For subscription instructions, see the ARSC home page
http://www.arsc-audio.org/arsclist.html
Copyright of individual posting is owned by the author of the posting and
permission to re-transmit or publish a post must be secured
from the author of the post.