Hi, Don,
While the prevalence of Sticky Shed is with reel-to-reel audio and
instrumentation tapes and digital audio, it has also shown up more than
I think people will admit on 3/4-inch U-Matic video cassettes. A decade
ago (plus or minus), Benoit Thiebaut did some work in Paris for
PrestoSpace and he identified binder hydrolysis in various U-Matic
tapes. Prior to that, I was hearing complaints of SSS in U-Matics out of
Hollywood but, at that time, they were happy with starting and stopping
the transfers and cleaning the heads and would not even consider baking.
While SSS is rare in analog audio cassettes, I believe it is possible
and I think I've seen it in a few cassettes. Certainly I see the residue
after playing some (very few, but some). I do not recall ever having
successfully baking a cassette.
On the other hand, the one DAT cassette I baked was a success.
So, I don't think there is a hard-and-fast rule that analog audio
cassettes never suffer from SSS, but I do think it is rare. I have found
SBS (Soft Binder Syndrome) of the type that does NOT respond to baking
AND causes squeal to be the most prevalent (but still thankfully scarce)
binder degradation modality. This is a very small circle on the Venn
diagram within the very large SBS circle that does not intersect with
the large SSS circle.
I have had good luck with cold playback for this but have also had luck
with D5, though that is very tricky to apply in useful amounts without
over-lubricating the machine (but it fortunately evaporates).
Cheers,
Richard
On 2013-06-20 4:29 AM, Don Cox wrote:
> Are there cassettes with sticky shed ?
>
> I thought this was confined to reel-to-reel.
--
Richard L. Hess email: [log in to unmask]
Aurora, Ontario, Canada 647 479 2800
http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.
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