[Coco] Off-topic - Vintage Electronics

[Stephen Fischer]

One thing to remember is that some of the tapes from the reel-to-reel 
age may have an oxide that may now just be scraped off trying to play 
it. So look at several feet to see if the oxide is crumbly before 
shipping it.  Polyester may or may not be the very bad type. I cannot 
get to my 7” tapes to check that type. Just trying to scrape 1/4" off 
the first brown tape after the leader with a finger nail should be a 
simple test.

Another problem is that of print through, one of my oldest tapes I tried 
playing before I stopped using reel-to-reel was very bad to listen to 
the music.

Now 45 years since it was recorded it must be much worse, tapes that old 
with voice may not be understood.

I likely have ~ 50 7" tapes, all of music. Just two may be from a friend 
with a shared experience.

SHF

On 2/15/2019 7:22 PM, Steve Ostrom wrote:
> Sorry to ask an off-topic question, but this group has a lot of knowledge in vintage electronics.
> 
> My father-in-law died a year ago, and I found in his possessions two boxes, each containing one 7” recording tape.  I assume this is reel-to-reel tape.  These boxes state, “1800 feet 1.0 mil 7” reel polyester concert recording tape, #44-1018”
> 
> I would love to know if there is anything recorded on these two reels.  One digital transfer company I checked with in Minneapolis did not have the capability to check these.  Are there any Coco list members who could check these to see if they have any audio data?  I’d be happy to pay for shipping both ways, and some money for your efforts.  If there is audio, I would also like to have it transferred to CD or flash drive so we can listen to anything he may have recorded.  Please let me know if anyone might want to tackle this for me.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> --- Steve ---