Want to have those "new to you" 8 tracks you purchased online or at a thrift store tuned up/repaired before attempting to play them (always a good idea!). Or are you getting back in to the 8 track hobby and want to have those tapes you bought brand new back in the 70's/80's, that have been in storage all these years, brought back to life? Then this service is for you!
It's never a good idea to pop an 8 track tape that has never been tuned up into your player. Most of the old foam pads have turned gooey or hardened up so that as soon as pressure is put on them, they turn into dust. A dust that will get all over the inside of your 8 track tape. Or the sensing foil may let go during the track change, causing the tape to get eaten. So an otherwise pristine tape, now has permanent damage.
PLEASE READ BEFORE PURCHASING THE REPAIRS
If your tapes are in cardboard sleeves (or have those plastic snap on dust covers over the tape area), please remove them from the sleeves before shipping them to me. This will help reduce the shipping weight, reduce the chance of the sleeve being damaged, and save me time.
I do a light cleaning of the outside of your carts as part of the service. But please keep in mind, my focus on this repair service is on getting the innards of your 8 tracks back in tip top, reliable condition. So please do not send heavily soiled carts to me (or carts that are in extremely bad physical condition). If they have a lot of grime on them, please at least clean the worst of the grime off before sending them to me (a damp Magic Eraser and a microfiber cloth work wonders).
Also, please do not send tapes to me in which all or most of the tape has come off the reel. 4 feet or less off the reel is fine.
8 Track Tape Repair Service
Get it done right the first time!!
Services Include:
*Sensing Foil replacement
*All Foam Pressure Pads are automatically replaced
*Felt Pads are replaced when possible with my anti-static "smooth glide" pads.
*Cleaning of the pinch roller
*Replacement of out of round pinch rollers
*Light cleaning of the outside of the cart
*Clean and lube the spindles for the pinch roller and tape reel
*Tape tension adjustment
*Replacement of badly warped or noisy reels
*Repair of tapes with broken sense foil splice
*Repair of tapes that are jammed up and will not play
Repair of tapes that have been eaten by the machine and have some* tape spilled out of cartridge. Keep in mind that if the tape is accordioned or badly damaged, I can iron it flat. But there will be noticeable fidelity drop out when that part of the tape is played. I do not repair carts in which more than 4 feet of tape has come off the reel.
*Reorientating of tape that has flipped so that the graphite side it now contacting the playhead and the recorded side is not (a common issue)
In most cases a tune up will take care of most (but NOT all) wow and flutter issues many tapes suffer from. It WILL help to ensure your tape does not self destruct when played after having been shelved for several years (however accidents do happen!). A great many of the tapes sent to me for repair have damage done to them from an attempt being made at some point to play them after having sat for 20+ years. This damage could have been prevented. Most damage can be repaired, however the loss of sound quality in the damaged areas cannot be. A tune up will NOT fix tape drop nor will it bring back fidelity lost from tape damage (demagnetization, exposure to temperature extremes, damage done from the tape being eaten by the player). If a tape I am repairing has constant "drop out", really bad fidelity issues, has been recorded over, or has degraded to a point in which it sounds like someone is turning the volume up and down during playback, I do not charge for the repair. However, by now a lot of tapes do have some sort of damage or degradation to areas of tape due to age. So there will likely be an area or two of fidelity drop out during playback. This is common and these incur the regular repair fee.
Pricing:
Standard Service (up to 60 days between the time I receive your tapes and ship them back. Depends on the workload and tape condition. May take less time, may take a little more) I appreciate your trust in me to repair your tapes and your patience, as I am dealing with a tape format that is now between 40 and 50 years old in most cases. Time flies!
1-9 tapes: $6.50 per tape + $7.00 Media Mail return shipping (USA Only)*
10+ tapes: $6.50 per tape = Free Media Mail return shipping (USA Only) *
*Ampex Carts and FlatPak Carts with melted pinch rollers are $7 per tape
How To Pack Your Tapes
Please pack your tapes in a box large enough for them to sit FLAT. Put either bubble wrap, clean used paper bags, foam padding, newspaper or Kraft packing paper on the bottom and all sides of the box. Be sure and do the same on the top after the tapes have been packed. Put enough packing material on top of the tapes to fill any void between the top of the tapes and the top flaps of the box. Pack it like it is going to be thrown, dropped, etc because it most likely will be during shipping! Not responsible for tapes that get lost or broken during shipping due to improper packing!
And please make sure to tape the bottom of the box really good at the seam where the flaps meet. Do not rely on the cardboard tape Amazon and other shippers use.
Shipping in a proper sized box that will withstand a round trip journey with plenty of packing materials helps me keep costs down and will enable me to save time when packing your tapes back up for their journey home.
This listing is set up for Media Mail return shipping. This is calculated for you at checkout. Media Mail return shipping is free when you purchase 9 repairs and up. If you would like another method of return shipping, just let me know and I can invoice you for that once your repairs are done. Please do not combine your repair service purchase with other products from my web store. This will throw the shipping off as they are different shipping profiles.
Jon Costantino
P.O Box 516
Merlin, OR 97532
