Bought a $3 hairdryer at a Toledo flea market to fix a stretched tape, and it actually worked

Nina Grant · 2026-10-16T16:45:05.434361+00:00

Had a copy of Rumours that played slow and wobbly for 2 months. Read somewhere that heat can shrink a stretched tape back onto the reel. So I got a cheap hairdryer for $3 at a flea market in Toledo and held it about 6 inches from the shell for maybe 20 seconds per side. Let it cool, popped it in, and the wow was gone. Not perfect but close enough to listen to. Learned that the tape itself is more forgiving than I thought. Anyone else try heat or is this a fluke?

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Bought a $3 hairdryer at a Toledo flea market to fix a stretched tape, and it actually worked | Cassette Tape Swap - Topic Shares