[peel] Mouldy old tapes

[robf]

I'm on my third batch of tapes now and at least 4 of the tapes are suffering from the mould described. They're all in sealed casings too, so I was a little bit nervous about breaking them open to clean - and then I read some stuff on the internet suggesting that releasing the spores was a potential health hazard?! Now I'm wondering if I want to break them open at all!

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/amia-l/2003/05/msg00178.html

On the upside - I should be releasing four complete 2 hour shows from November 1979 this afternoon..keep 'em peeled



---- bty997881 <roger.carruthers@...> wrote: 
> Just tackling the last two tapes of my second batch of the 400, both of which have a 
> particularly nasty dose of the White Fungus of Death, so I thought thought I'd share with you 
> the damage limitation technique I'm using.
>  It seems that the worst of the fungus is on the edge of the tapes, rather than on the face, so 
> what I've been doing is cracking open the cases, and cleaning it off with cotton buds dipped 
> in isopropyl alcohol. 
> This is safe and fairly effective, and not only helps reduce the amount of gak shed into the 
> works of the machine, but also reduces the friction between the tapes and the side of the 
> casing, making them play more smoothly. 
> Judging by the colour of the used buds, this is also an effective way of catching a lot of the 
> oxide debris too.
>  Most of the tapes are in 'sealed', rather than screwed enclosures, but I've found that you can 
> crack them quite cleanly by inserting a flat blade screwdriver into the record tab holes and 
> twisting, then open the cases by running a Stanley blade down the crack you've made.
>  I don't suppose that alcohol does much damage to fungal spores, but short of reaching for 
> the Dithane left over from this summer's abysmal attempt to grow tomatoes in a Welsh 
> climate, I'm not sure there's much that can be done in this respect.
>  Happy ripping!
> Roger
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------
> 
> Yahoo! Groups Links
> 
> 
>