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I have also worked with paper tapes that seem to have been effected by acid in either the paper itself or the box it was in. In any event it was brittle and pretty tough to  transfer. Most of the paper tape, however, over the years.... was pretty good! There was one box that I saw in a collection that had reporters notes written on a yellow pad that was put in the box.There were clear indications of acid from that paper on both the box and the paper tape. As is the case with most tapes products - I suspect that some is good and some is....... wait for it.......

less good.



Jim Lindner

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On Apr 10, 2010, at 2:58 PM, Richard L. Hess wrote:

> Hi, Shiffy,
> 
> I've done 3M, Brush, and Utah (Canadian) paper tape from the late-40s and early 50s and none were as brittle as you described. In fact, all of the tapes played very well. The Brush tapes benefited from the use of the NAB Stereo Cartridge head (3 tracks) because the centre track appeared about 100 mil, centred. Neither that nor the FT mono head were ideal, as the FT mono head had 150 mil of DC-erased noise and the NAB cart head was a bit less than half the track (43 mil).
> 
> If I get any more, I'll try and centre-up the Pacific Recorders TOMCAT head that has an 82 mil right channel, moved up with a narrow cue track below.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Richard
> 
> At 01:40 PM 2010-04-10, you wrote:
>> A possible negative consequence of recording tape being paper backed is
>> intimacy of the medium-to-head contact. Its typical surface (in 2010)  isn't
>> as smooth as acetate & plastic (at least when those substances are not
>> aged).   Is it known if the paper used by Brush, 3M & others were acid free?
>> 
>> Years ago I transferred some I.G. Farben paper tape that had been recorded
>> in 1944.  It broke frequently while running @ typical 'modern' tensions.  It
>> was self-evidently more brittle than Brush & 3M paper samples with which
>> I've worked.
>> 
>> Art (Shiffy) Shifrin
>> www.shifrin.net
>> NYC USA
> 
> Richard L. Hess                   email: [log in to unmask]
> Aurora, Ontario, Canada       (905) 713 6733     1-877-TAPE-FIX
> Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
> Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.