Something of a 407 disappointment

[Lance Lawson]

Recently I bought a 10.5" reel of NOS Ampex 407. It was very very inexpensive and I was more concerned with getting the metal flanges to aid in pancake spooling. Anyway I spooled 1800' of it onto a reel and yes it was sticky. I treated it and the treatment went very smoothly and effectively. I've pretty much gotten the NuFinish process down pat.

Sadly when I tested this reel it is loaded with dropouts to the point that even for a casual background tape it won't cut it. So this reel will be spooled into the trash. You can't win em all but at least the nice metal flanges will work for their intended purposes.

[goldear]

Why don't you try baking a reel before attempting the Nu-Finish treatment? You will probably have better results.

[Lance Lawson]

Why don't you try baking a reel before attempting the Nu-Finish treatment? You will probably have better results.

Virgin 406 & 407 treats well without baking. It could just be a bad reel to begin with sticky not withstanding. One half of a NOS Ampex 632 pancake I bought has a lot of dropouts. Tape poorly stored can develop other kinds of problems whether it's sticky prone or not. Perhaps I'll bake the other half and see how it goes.