Nu Finish To The Rescue Must Read!

[Lance Lawson]

I decided rather than trash my new reel of sticky Ampex 407 that I’d try the Nu Finish remedy. I did however spool the 407 on to one of my cheapo gray reels . The nice Ampex reel and box now houses RMGI LPR-35 but maybe that was a premature decision.

Anyway I set the reels on my TEAC going directly reel to reel bypassing the transport. From there I saturated a cotton disk swab with Nu Finish. I hit fast forward . I stopped every 200 ft to reload the swab and turn it to a counter pointing angle. I proceeded to the end then did the same procedure in rewind. I repeated the operation three times. Once I was certain that I had done all I could and the swab was picking up less crud I took a clean dry swab and rewound and fast forwarded the tape twice. Gradually the swab ran cleaner and cleaner. Then I removed the reels and put NuFinish on all the guides and cleaned the facia. This stuff is nice and it works great as a polish.

Then it was time to test the tape. I loaded my newly purchased Counting Crows August And Everything After CD. I love this collection and have only known it on cassette since 1993! I set the levels and put the monitor into off the heads mode donned the Sennheiser 280’s crossed my fingers and hit record. Rround Here came off the heads through the headphones loud and clear, picture perfect! Ok so 3 minutes of good recording…big deal! Omaha repeated the performance of Round Here and midway through I said “Hmmm maybe there’s something to this.” By the time Mr. Jones screamed across I knew this reel of tape had been saved and saved well! I couldn't help but laugh out loud and I watch the VU's pegging to this classic song! This is Ampex as I remember it and I know why I loved it so much! Well the entire CD recorded perfect and even though I had tortured the tape when first run as it stuck to the transport a half dozen times and it bunched up and twisted more than once! But this didn’t seem to matter! There’s no dropouts or indications that the tape twisted! But more importantly it runs and runs fine. Also it sound amazing just as it should!

So whatever is in Nu Finish it does seem to cut and into the bad layers of coating and it also seems to coat the tape and act as a lubricant for both the tape and transport. Call me an optimist but I have the feeling that this stuff does a better job than baking. I think using it before baking is best as the last thing you want is to have the unstable coating stabilized so it can’t be removed by the Nu Finish. Maybe bake it after just for good measure? I wouldn’t bother heat treating the tape as this easy enough and more or less mess free. Lastly the tape now spools even just like normal tape should!

But fellow Tapeheads keep this under your hats! It might spike up the price of all that sticky Ampex out there! Try it, it works!!!

This is the treated reel and bottle of Nu Finish.

 

[goldear]

Cool. I have tons of NOS sticky tape that I simply couldn't bear to throw-away. If this method works as some have claimed, I'm going to be very happy.

 

[Listens2tubes]

Nice Lance, I so far only have had tape bought sticky tape for the reels and being old radio station reel was unknown. When I trashed the SSS tape it was stuck together and came off as one unit.

Could you post a picture of the Nu Finish? Sounds like a great tape path lubricant.

 

[Lance Lawson]

Nice Lance, I so far only have had tape bought sticky tape for the reels and being old radio station reel was unknown. When I trashed the SSS tape it was stuck together and came off as one unit.

Could you post a picture of the Nu Finish? Sounds like a great tape path lubricant.

This is what Nu Finish bottle looks like. On the TEAC is the Ampex reel treated with Nu Finish. After 5 full plays and 2 full recordings the tape is functioning perfectly and nothing is shedding.

 

[Listens2tubes]

*Hi5* Just what I thought. I think I have some in the garage.

 

[Mark J]

And the tape heads will be nicely polished on each pass.

Hope this works long term. Too many reels of tape are unusable because of SSS.

 

[goldear]

I can't remember who the guy was who originally spoke about doing this here. But I think that he reported that it had worked perfectly for him for a number of years. So this is not actually a brand-new technique, although it may be brand-new to this audience.

But whatever the case, if this really works, then a whole lot ot tape that many of us have discounted as only being fit only for the circular file suddenly becomes viable again.

 

[Tinman]

I can't remember who the guy was who originally spoke about doing this here. But I think that he reported that it had worked perfectly for him for a number of years. So this is not actually a brand-new technique, although it may be brand-new to this audience.

But whatever the case, if this really works, then a whole lot ot tape that many of us have discounted as only being fit only for the circular file suddenly becomes viable again.

Not so loud!!! We don't want the nutcakes on ebay to get ideas! *eyepop*

Marc

 

[Lance Lawson]

I certainly didn't invent the technique but I made note of it a while back. I've been playing the treated reel constantly since yesterday and it's running as clean as can be. It fast forwards, fast rewinds and zero backing buildup on the feed side tensioner which on the TEAC makes contact with the back side and is the prime piece that get sticky buildup and is the part that ultimately will stall the machine when there's sticky shed. The tape sounds normal and spools nicely. Also if you manually rotate the reels to advance the tape you can feel it moving easier than non treated good tape. I'm getting no oxide at all on the heads and guides.

 

[ggoat!!!]

NuFinish

Hi Lance...got your email.

Glad to see that someone else finally had the courage to try the NuFinish method that I've been using and talking about for years now...

Glad it worked for you. For more serious stickiness, use a 100% cotton terry cloth towel, and pinch the tape lightly while fastforwarding and rewinding on both sides of the tape...then after doing this a LOT of times, do the same thing with a dry soft cloth over and over and over until all the NuFinish is buffed off the tape. It works.

Also, NuFinish is great for polishing head surfaces and guides. Just be sure to get ALL the residue off during buffing.

Regarding tapes that are SOOO sticky that oxide comes off, then BAKE THEM FIRST. Immediately after baking, NuFinish the tape as above. For really bad tapes I would bake first THEN NuFinish to keep it from happening again; this has worked for me.

Also, for those "lumps" on the tape that are caused by fast winding then STOPPING a sticky shed tape...these lumps are just lumps of sticky goo from the binder, and are a ***** to get off with the fast-wind scenario. However, with a little NuFinish on a q-tip, place that section of tape on a nice soft perfectly clean smooth surface and polish each lump off with the q-tip soaked in NuFinish. When the lump is all the way gone, just buff the NuFinish residue off, and continue NuFinishing the entire tape as described above.

By the way, if your tapes have lumps like these from fast-winding that comes to a stop in the middle of a tape due to sticky shed, baking will NOT remove these lumpy goo spots. Baking simply makes the moisture migrate back INTO the binder, but once you try to wind a sticky tape and it gets STUCK, all that goo on the surface is no longer in the same spots it originally was, and does NOT absorb back into the tape on spots where it accumulates on the surface during fast-winding and stopping. NuFinish is the ONLY way to get these lumps off the tape. If you bake a tape that has these lumps, yes the stickiness will go away, but the debris lumps of goo will still be there, although not STICKY, they will still be LUMPS, and will leave terrible drop-outs and gunk on the heads.

But again...I'm glad someone else has verified that my NuFinish method works.

Jeff

 

[Lance Lawson]

Hi Jeff great you're still active since the article on Tape Op was 2007. Interesting you were doing instrument refinishing. I'm a guitar builder and I'm no stranger to finish polishes. I notice that a treated reel moves easier across the heads and guides. I'm thinking that the polymer in Nu Finish somehow bonds with the binder and cross links with it. Since the Nu Finish has such longevity to the treatment it's more than just cleaning and smoothing the surface.

I just treated an ancient reel of Scotch 144 that I bought in a thrift store that had never been recorded on. I recorded some old Dylan on it and it left a lot of dry whitish powder behind. I'm running it right now and it's clean and sounds about as good as Scotch 144 has ever sounded.

I wish I'd know about this in 1998 when I tossed 30+ reels of Grand master Gold in the trash.

I don't think the coating of Nu Finish affects the sound at all since tapes running at higher speeds are running on an air cushion anyway.

 

[Des-Lab]

Well the preliminary findings do sound promising. However, two questions immediately spring to mind. One, since it's not really made clear in your post, do you apply any of this stuff to the PLAY side? If so, how does that layer of polish affect the playback? Since it's ostensibly a new layer, that would increase the distance between the tape surface and the head gaps.

And second, how does the smooth surface on the back side affect pinch roller grip? If the tape is too slick or smooth, it's going to have a very hard time pulling the tape and keeping it properly tensioned and possibly be zig-zagging all over the place. A certain amount of friction MUST be present at all times.

 

[shotwell]

Good questions.

I'm going to try it myself sometime soon. I'll report back when I can.

 

[ggoat!!!]

My original NuFinish posting 2007

For anyone interested, here is a copy of my original post on this subject about four years ago...

I'm reposting this as its own topic (it was originally in an update to
my other thread regarding my tapes that were damaged by ziplock
storage) because I think it is an important breakthrough in tape
restoration necessitated by "Sticky Shed Syndrome." As I addressed
elsewhere, I discovered that a box of tapes I have had in storage for
a few years were consumed with mold growth from sitting in a moist/wet/
damp/fungus-infested cardboard box in an outside un-climate controlled
storage shed in the swamps of South Louisiana. Ziplock bags and
silica gel didn't stop the rot. Some of the tapes are not fixable,
but some that I was ABSOLUTELY SURE would be the LAST likely to
survive have indeed been some of the LEAST problematic, and a true
testament to a tape restoration project's effectiveness and longevity
that I ingloriously performed 14 years ago...

Here's the most amazing discovery: as many know, Sony ULH tape is one
of the worst for not only sticky shed but also the backcoating
"oozing" and making the tape stick together. One of the worst examples
of sticky shed EVER. Well, back around 1993, before sticky shed was
widely known, I had a case of 10 of these tapes that wouldn't play. I
cleaned and cleaned, and NOTHING would fix them. Well, I was
professionally refinishing guitars/basses at the time, and one of the
most amazing polishes I've ever used for getting rid of tiny hairline
scratch and haze was NuFinish (in the orange bottle). This stuff never
ceased to amaze me in a painting environment, and one of the qualities
NuFinish has is that is amazing at removing "gum" and old adhesive
tape residue; say, from an old bumper sticker. Just a tiny bit of
NuFinish, and you can polish away nearly any old gummy residue. Works
AMAZING for that. I figured the Sony tapes were ruined, so why not try
to "NuFinish" the gumminess away? I used a broken Pioneer RT-707 with
the face removed for its high torque motors, and literally soaked a
terry cloth rag and the tape itself with copious amounts of NuFinish;
so much so that it was oozing through the layers of tape. I soaked it
several times, passing the tape over my sloppy wet rag held with my
fingers. You can't imagine the mess...and you would NEVER think that
the tape would play well again! After I had a reel of sloppy wet
dripping NuFinish engulfed tape, I then did the same procedure but
with a dry terry cloth towel, and proceeded to "polish" the NuFinish
off the tape, as you would when applying it as a car polish, thus
removing the goo as well as all contaminants (dust, fingerprints,
etc.). I passed the tape countless times, and after several (and I
mean several) passes with a new rag each time I polished off all
traces of the NuFinish AND the tape goo. You know what??? IT WORKED!!!
The worst of the worst tapes played FLAWLESSLY, with NO sound
degradation (I'm sure some information had to be lost, but I couldn't
hear any difference) and NO drop outs! You have to be VERY careful as
one screw-up and you can easily bend or crease the tape. But, the
tapes sounded like the day I recorded them, and after a TON of work,
they left NO sign of oxide/binder breakdown of ANY kind on the
transport! OK, that was 14 years ago...


I haven't played any of these tapes in years. Some of them were in
this moldy box. I figured, "There's no WAY these will play." Well,
guess what. THESE TAPES PERFORMED FLAWLESSLY! They had NO mold growth
(thanks to the clear plastic type Sony box covering) and exhibited NO
sticky shed whatsoever! Remember, this was after YEARS in outdoor
moldy/muggy/moist/wet/damp storage, surrounded by tapes covered in
mold. Also, remember that 14 years ago these tapes oozed and shed so
much that they wouldn't last 15 seconds on a machine. NUFINISH FIXED
THESE TAPES PERMANENTLY! This MAY be an alternative to baking a
tape...especially since baking is a temporary fix. Concerns? Well,
NuFinish is petroleum based and contains silicone (apparently a good
thing). But, although it seems this would be harmful to tape in the
long-term (the petroleum aspect) these tapes EVEN AFTER being
subjected to the WORST conditions imaginable had NO sticky shed! This
WORKS. I hope this may work for someone else who wants a "permanent"
fix for a tape.


BTW...I've read where someone did a similar thing using alcohol. But,
any time I've gotten any alcohol residue on a tape by accident (even
91%) it has caused drop-outs. You would HAVE to remove any deposit/
residue from any tape that you clean with alcohol. I can't think of
anything better to clean any sort of residue off of a tape than
NuFinish. This stuff works wonders for this. If it hadn't worked
nearly 15 years later (i.e., no long term damage to the tape from
NuFinish application 14 years ago) then I wouldn't recommend using it
now. But I can say with certainty that it DID work on this worst-case
scenario.


Hope this helps!

 

[Lance Lawson]

Well the preliminary findings do sound promising. However, two questions immediately spring to mind. One, since it's not really made clear in your post, do you apply any of this stuff to the PLAY side? If so, how does that layer of polish affect the playback? Since it's ostensibly a new layer, that would increase the distance between the tape surface and the head gaps.

And second, how does the smooth surface on the back side affect pinch roller grip? If the tape is too slick or smooth, it's going to have a very hard time pulling the tape and keeping it properly tensioned and possibly be zig-zagging all over the place. A certain amount of friction MUST be present at all times.

I can answer the question. I used cotton disks (see original post) and saturate it with Nu Finish. The swab is allowed to gently fold over the tape and light finger pressure (thumb and forefinger) grip the tape. The coating/treatment goes onto both sides of the tape. Wiping it clean is done via same method using clean swabs. The sound of the tape is virtually unaffected and the grip of the pinch roller/capstan is not compromised at all. I've had no residue on the heads from this and a thin coating on the guides has proven beneficial to all tape transport ease.

 

[gamve]

WOW.
I have half a ton (Literally) of 456 that I brought for the reels a while back. I was able to clean a few reels up and have used some but the cleanup after each pass is a real pain in the arse. Also got 16 x 10.5 TDK reels last week and that tape also looks sus. If I can restore this lot I will never need to buy another tape. There is nothing to lose except a bit of time as all this tape is buggered. I'm off to buy a bottle of New Finish right now.

 

[goldear]

If this treatment works, then I'm going to have a about 20 reels of one-pass 457 that I was planning to throw-out, and save for the flanges!

But now this leaves me with a new quandry: What am I to do with all of those pancakes that I have that I was planning to use these flanges on?

 

[Des-Lab]

If this treatment works, then I'm going to have a about 20 reels of one-pass 457 that I was planning to throw-out, and save for the flanges!

But now this leaves me with a new quandry: What am I to do with all of those pancakes that I have that I was planning to use these flanges on?

If this treatment proves effective, then 1) Lance and Goat will be the Tapeheads of the Decade, 2) the pool of potential NOS tape availale will skyrocket (along with the price if sellers of these tapes ever catch on), and Goldear: you will be sitting on a gold mine of usable tape. So don't complain. Now, all I have to do is get my hands on a roll of SSS tape and give it a try. For something like this, it's important to perform as many cross checks by as many different people as possible in order to validate the findings.

 

[Skywavebe]

Many Many Thanks to ggoat for the fine posting of this.
I am going to try it on some NEW 3 M 807 when I get a chance and see if it does the job there. If it works for all tapes, then my vote for ggoat and Lance for making this permanent solution well known to the community a job well done. Of course I suspect Nu Finish may release a smaller bottle with a label called Magnetic Tape Restoration solution at a higher cost if they ever hear of this.

 

[Lance Lawson]

BTW there is a product called Nu Vinyl that may also be effective as a coating after the Nu Finish treatment is used. I've used Nu Vinyl on things and it's non greasy and dries clean.

I'm still going to concentrate on buying brand new tape but I do want to acquire a supply of 456 and 407.

I rolled my treated 407 this morning. Smooth as silk it went too.