Tom,

This is great news!
I've had an email dialogue with Charlie Richardson and he believes that
his process could be automated. The problem is getting the investment
capital and your experience may be just what some potential investor
would be interested in. Perhaps there are others who have done the same
as you and collectively it could be useful data.

Regards,

Corey
Corey Bailey Audio Engineering

On 12/19/2015 5:54 PM, Tom Fine wrote:
> Back in early 2014, I sent Charlie Richardson an old Ampex 7.5IPS
> alignment tape, which is on Ampex 406 tape, circa 1970. The tape was
> definitely sticky-shed, in fact the first couple of layers I wound out
> by hand pulled oxide to the adjoining backing layer. Richardson
> treated the tape with his "Rezorex" process, which apparently uses a
> chemical peel to remove the back-coat layer, which Richardson contends
> is the source point of sticky-shed. I transferred the tape in May 2014
> with no problems, then put it on a shelf in ambient metro-NYC indoor
> environment. That first playback was on an Ampex AG-440B. I just
> rewound and played the tape again, this time on an Ampex 352. Still no
> sticky-shed evidence, and the audio was fine (test tones were 10dB
> below reference tone, for the most part, azimuth tones allowed stable
> adjustment). Richardson had left a little bit of the end of the reel
> with the back-coat still on, and that tape was solidly sticky-shed. I
> will keep on playing this tape once a year to see if it goes sticky
> again.
>
> I think a more scientific test of this process would require sacrifice
> of both a sticky-shed test tape and a high-fidelity music recording on
> sticky-shed tape. Although Richardson wants tapes not to have been
> previously baked and played, which he contends damages the tape, I'd
> want a reference transfer after one bake. Then let the back-coat layer
> be removed, and do a transfer with the exact same equipment and
> compare both measurements and careful listening, see if the chemical
> peel does any sonic damage. In the case of my old test tape, all I'm
> saying is that the tones are at the announced levels, and this tape
> could be used in a pinch to align a tape deck, although I'd want to
> bet on a modern MRL tape if it were for anything critical.
>
> One other thing. The tape with the backcoat removed is not as thin as
> I thought it would be. It seems to move through the transport just
> fine. I didn't observe any obvious edge-curl or country-lane motion,
> and it fast-winds just fine through all the static guides on an older
> Ampex transport.
>
> I'd want to do more testing with very familiar high-fidelity music
> recordings to make sure the process doesn't do any damage to audio,
> but for at least a year and a half, it does seem to prevent a return
> of sticky-shed's mechanical symptoms.
>
> -- Tom Fine
>