My tape deck ate my old 1987 Def Leppard mix this morning and I'm still trying to fish the tape out without wrecking it

I got the tape out in pieces but now I'm stuck trying to splice it back together with some old scotch tape, has anyone got a trick for fixing chewed up cassettes without making them sound all warpy?

2 comments

2 Comments

skyler51621d agoTop Commenter

I read somewhere that you can use a little bit of heat from a hair dryer on low to soften the tape before you try to splice it. The trick is to cut the damaged parts out at a 45 degree angle with sharp scissors and then line them up on a fresh piece of splicing tape, not scotch tape. The adhesive on scotch tape will gum up your player over time and mess with the sound. I've had good luck with that method on some old Iron Maiden tapes that got chewed up in my car stereo back in the day. Also make sure the tape is totally dry before you put it back in, any moisture will make it warp worse.

noah_barnes21d ago

Did your friend @skyler516 already try that hair dryer trick? I had a buddy who tried fixing a beat up Van Halen tape with super glue once and it basically melted the whole thing, so please don't do that.