Tom, is it a documented fact that all (12) rolls (reels or pancakes) of tape in a box would be from the same manufacturing/slurry batch? I never looked, but it would not surprise me if there were different manufacturing runs on the same delivery carton…

<L>
Lou Judson
Intuitive Audio
415-883-2689

On Dec 17, 2015, at 4:38 PM, Tom Fine <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi Marie:
> 
> This is very strange:
>> I have also had reels of Ampex 456 come out of the same box of 10 or 20 and
>> purchased at the same time where 1/2 have SSS and the rest are fine!
>> 
> 
> I've never heard of that from anyone else. That would almost seem to defy all theories of what causes sticky-shed, because one would assume by a "box" of tapes you mean a real-deal Ampex case with a batch number on it. If that's so, it's really freaky that some tapes in the same batch (which I think means the same production run of the chemical slurry) would get sticky-shed and others wouldn't.
> 
> I'm not doubting your testimony at all, just saying that is calls into question what is believed to be the cause of sticky-shed, in that I can't see how the binder chemistry could differ within a batch.