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Did Nixon Erase My Tape?

During my Army days in the early 70s, I bought stereo pieces while I was overseas and had them sent home to wait for me when I got out. One of the pieces was a Teac RTR, and over the next 12-15 years, I made around 50 7" tape mixes, all of them at 7 1/2 IPS. I still have those tapes and have acquired three nice RTRs.....a Teac A-4300SX, a Teac X-1000R, and an Akai GX-636. I was playing a tape today on the X-1000 and when I hit 'reverse' to play the second side, all I got was silence, with an occasional garbled sound every 5 seconds or so. At first, I thought maybe I had erased the second side and never re-recorded back over it, but the back of the box (where you would write in whatever you recorded) showed no changes.So I removed the tape from the right take-up reel, flipped it over so that the B side was now the A side and re-threaded the tape back on the left reel. The recording played beautifully, with no problems, and I'm trying to figure out where the problem lies. The tape was originally recorded on a Teac A-4010SL and I think this is the first time I've played it in at least 20 years. I'm thinking that tracks 2 and 4 just don't line up correctly with the reverse-playback heads on the X-1000, which itself seems goofy to me. Any veteran tape-heads out there that have an opinion, please let me know. The X-1000R has bi-directional recording capability, which the A-4010SL did not.
discnik

Showing 7 responses by discnik

discnik OP
144 posts
 
Thanks for the service manual data-base info oldhvymec. It will help me to delve into this problem and decide whether to tackle it on my own or get competent help (I'm leaning toward the latter). I learned the Law of Diminishing Returns in painful way years ago when I replaced a trap under the kitchen sink, but failed to seal it correctly. Woke up the next morning to an inch of water on the flooring. Or maybe that was Murphy's Law?
discnik OP
144 posts
 
You are correct stereo5 - it was Fury, not My Friend Flicka (both show were similar).
discnik OP
144 posts
 
I had forgotten about his role in that series, lewm8. He is the most likely culprit.
discnik OP
144 posts
 
Good thing I didn't reference the Three Stooges, Miller Carbon. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!
discnik OP
144 posts
 
Thanks for the responses, guys....historical and actual operational input is appreciated. I had to go back in time and think about the repair history on my A-4010SL deck.....for reasons more neurotic than fact-based, I had the heads replaced in the late 1970s and it's possible that the tech I used did not correctly align the new heads at the time. The tape that failed to play properly was recorded in 1985 after the head replacement had been done. Thanks for the tip, johnss.....I plan to play the offending tape on my GX-636 to see if it tracks correctly on that deck. If it does, I will have your tip looked into. The reference to Peter Graves being responsible went right over my head, and he was one of my favorite actors from childhood (My Friend Flicka), tom6897.
discnik OP
144 posts
 
Thanks for the suggestions atmasphere, oldhvymec, et al. The problem evidently rests in the pinch roller/capstan domain as a different tape was played with thew same result. Dirty tape path isn't the explanation....I've only used the deck 2 or 3 times since buying it over a year ago and I visually inspected the heads/tape path with a hand mirror when I received it. I guess any device with as many moving and inter-related parts can be expected to require more and more maintenance as time goes on. But I'm in love with the sound from RTRs, so I'll just have to suck it up.
discnik OP
144 posts
 
If I have to resort to 'baking' a tape to get it to work, it's time to discard that tape. The only stereo-related item(s) I have ever cooked are Vibrapods - when they get squashed from the weight of whatever they've been under, cooking them in a 200 degree oven for a few minutes will be like a dose of Viagra to them. How does that treatment benefit older tapes, tuzarupa? I've always stored my tapes upright in their plastic baggies and boxes to avoid problems with them settling unevenly. And I never used high-speed rewind except for very brief spaces because of my fear it would stretch the tape.
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