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Problems With A Vintage Tchaikovsky Audiocassette

Discussion in 'Cassettes' started by Easthelp, Feb 9, 2017.

  1. Easthelp

    Easthelp Active Member

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    My January 4, 2017 order for an Aiwa CS-600U from the eBay seller volodymyry123 didn't work out. The stereo was in outwardly very good, if not mint, condition. And everything else worked -- except for that darned RECORD button that felt too darn loose and wouldn't start any recording at all. (Sigh) (And, yes, I more recently saw a cautionary topic posted about that eBay seller here on Stereo2Go or on BoomBoxery, I shrug to say. At least he permitted a return from me and issued me a full refund.)

    I also ordered three vintage symphonic-music audiocassettes from another eBay seller, larrybboat, at the same time that I ordered the vintage boombox. The three audiocassettes seemed to do better. They sounded quite good, especially when they were played with the Dynamic Super Loudness (DSL) feature of the CS-600 turned on. That is, except the last-played tape. It is Tchaikovsky: Sleeping Beauty - Highlights (Londonffry/Treasury STS5 15179, or whatever the issuing record company's name is or was). That London Symphony Orchestra series of performances has their otherwise stirring playback marred by the fact that the audiocassette -- made by whatever company -- keeps lapsing into a near-unrelenting screeching. The screeching is intolerable. One can't enjoy the performance at all. It seems to happen somewhere past the halfway point of this audiocassette, which may be sixty-odd or seventy-odd minutes in running time.

    Two days ago, I received a Sharp GF-800H(S) that I ordered late last month from eBay seller cha-valen over in The Ukraine. I am suitably impressed by the size, by the heft (weight) and by the apparent quality of this dual-deck machine. And, yes, it is quite loud, even with the twin VOLUME sliders set to the lowest mark. But the Pyotr Tchaikovsky audiotape also started screeching during playback in Tape Deck 2 of this big, fancy boombox (which is more like a home stereo to me than any other boomboxes that I have).

    Checking the playback of the Tchaikovsky audiotape on the non-recording tape deck of the TEAC LP-R550USB that we have is similarly frustrating. That CD-burner's cassette deck is horizontally positioned (lying flat) and has no cassette-deck door; one simply slips an audiotape into or out of the recessed portion. I remember that the TEAC's tape deck played that audiotape with far less discordant noise in January 2017 than did, say, the Helix HX-4633N. (I was going to write that interestingly -- or "annoyingly" -- the non-recording Tape Deck 1 of the Sharp seems to playback the Tchaikovsky audiotape without a fuss. But, bah! The tape started screeching somewhat just as a certain track or passage was ending on side 1, with many more minutes of performance still left on that side.) And, surprise, surprise: the TEAC's cassette deck now seems to play the Sleeping Beauty audiotape with near-equally awful screeching as does the GF-800's Tape Deck 2.

    (By the way, this particular GF-800 has a rather strong-ejecting Tape Deck 2. I don't remember the seller mentioning it on the item's eBay webpage or in our message exchanges. I fear for this stereo's longevity with such potentially deck-wrecking vehemence.)

    I don't have any pretty pictures of the Sharp or of the TEAC or of the misbehaving music audiocassette. But I wonder: did my attempts at a remedy entrench the problem?

    In January 2017, after repeated and frustrating screeching during playback, I closely examined the Tchaikovsky audiotape and noticed that the pressure pad (or felt-tipped pad or whatever the part is) in the tape-heads opening was loose beneath the magnetic tape itself. I found some Gorilla Glue and, trying very hard to not get that tenaciously sticky stuff on the wrong cassette parts (or on me), I managed to put a tiny bit of the glue on the square part of the bronze-coloured steel strip that the tiny pad is originally attached to. Using tweezers, I put the pad back on the glue-touched square part of the steel strip and held the tiny pad against the steel strip's square part with something -- perhaps a Q-tip that I held -- while the Gorilla Glue dried. (That was the same day that I returned the Aiwa.) The repair attempt isn't perfect; one look shows that the felt pad isn't perfectly positioned on its squared steel base beneath the magnetic tape. One can also see bits of the since-dried glue bulging out between the pad and the pad's base along the bronze-coloured steel strip. But would that necessarily affect playback?

    Do any of the cassette decks need demagnetizing with the Discwasher D'Mag device that I have? Will this (not so) Great Wall Of Text of mine get read, to begin with?
     
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2017
  2. Easthelp

    Easthelp Active Member

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    February 10 , 2017 (Post-2:55 PM ET) Update:

    This AM photograph shows the tape-heads opening where the repair occurred. In this image -- with the item positioned in the upended, black rear portion of the cassette case on the desk -- the magnetic tape is pulled up, away from the felt pad/steel strip assembly to more clearly show the glue-repaired area.

    FEBRUARY 10, 2017 PHOTO' OF THE GLUE-MENDED, eBAY-PURCHASED TCHAIKOVSKY AUDIOCASSETTE.JPG
     
  3. Reflex85

    Reflex85 Member

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    I wish I had known about this site a few months ago.. I tossed about a dozen classical cassettes in the trash. I couldn't find anyone to take them for free and I needed the space for other music. I would have gladly sent them to you. At least now I have a method to donate music to people who would enjoy it.

    If I had to guess, I would speculate that tape tension is being slacked from the supply side or the take up side of the tape deck itself and not the cassette. The bad news is that it could be several things.. idler tire, belt, dirty components. I normally start with the cheapest fix and go from there.

    Is the tape nearing the end when this happens or does it happen even when freshly rewound?

    There are two very strong opinions about de-maging or not. I tend to be in the "no" camp.
     
    Last edited: May 17, 2017

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