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Re: [ARSCLIST] MVI Audio Tape Fixer
Lance:
The device works great for accessing a particular part of a tape for
cleaning or to hold it in place for splicing but be careful using it for
transferring tape from one shell to another. It may work ok on relatively
new tape but it has problems on older or compromised tapes. If you examine
the device, winding from one shell to another pulls the tape around fixed
plastic posts. This can rip the back coating off older tapes. It also has
the problem of increasing drag on the tape at certain points of the winding
process enough to deform a tape. Consider the torque you get on an electric
drill. In testing the device, I've seen the torque get high enough to pull
the feed cassette right out of the holder.
As an add-on for splicing tape to new hubs or manually swapping cassettes,
however, it is great. One of the most annoying things in manually swapping
a tape to another shell (physically placing - not spooling) is holding
everything in place and dropping the tape around the internal guides without
catching it in the front when reclosing the shell. This device is great for
holding the shell in place and the two small plastic guides right near the
tension pad help hold the tape in position so it doesn't get caught in the
closing shell. Using this device can increase the speed of manually
swapping and rebuilding a cassette to 1/2 or 1/4 the time it usually takes.
The little brass pieces for turning the hub are also great. They work much
better than sticking a pencil through the hub!
If you disassemble and swap tape in cassettes, this device is certainly
worth the price but I would not recommend it for spooling a cassette you
really care about.
We have three of the little devils.
Peter Brothers
President
SPECS BROS., LLC
(201) 440-6589
www.specsbros.com
Restoration and Disaster Recovery Service Since 1983
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> [mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Watsky, Lance
> Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2005 4:25 PM
> To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] MVI Audio Tape Fixer
>
>
> I thought that this looked like a great idea, (see:
> http://www.mvipro.com/astation.html) for transferring damaged
> audio cassette tapes to new cassette shells. Has anyone on the
> list ever used one?
>
> Thanks,
> Lance Watsky
> Preservation & Media Specialist
> The Georgia Archives
> 5800 Jonesboro Road
> Morrow, GA 30260
> 678-364-3764 (phone)
> 678-364-3860 (fax)
> lwatsky@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> www.GeorgiaArchives.org
>
>