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Newsgroup: alt.collecting.8-track-tapes
 
Information File and Frequently Asked Questions List 
 
FAQ Version 1.7 - Updated:  June 5, 1996 

(New!) means New to this version
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
 
Compiled by Malcolm Riviera (Malco@interpath.com) with 
excellent assistance from Abigail Lavine, Our Lady of the 8-Tracks 
(abbot@pobox.com), Eric Wilson (ewilson@nr.infi.net) and Ronald 
Bensley (RBensley@gnn.com).  Please send all additions, corrections, 
and suggestions to Malcolm Riviera at Malco@interpath.com.  
Special thanks to Russ Forster for allowing me to lift freely 
from his fine publication "8-Track Mind" for many of the answers found 
below. Answers taken directly from the pages of "8-Track Mind" are denoted 
by [8TM - author name] at the beginning of the answer. 
 
This file is intended to provide a general information base and answer 
some frequently asked questions about 8-track tapes and other analog audio 
formats that are discussed on alt.collecting.8-track-tapes.  It is hoped 
that this file will be useful to newcomers to the group and help fill in 
information gaps in the minds of experienced trackers.  This FAQ is 
posted monthly to alt.collecting.8-track-tapes as well as 
to news.answers and alt.answers.  
 
Table of Contents 
============= 
 
1.  8-track tapes on Internet? Are you kidding? 
 
2.  Who invented the 8-track tape? 
 
3. A. When did they stop making 8-tracks? 
 
    B. Why did they stop making 8-tracks? 
 
4.  What is "8-Track Mind"? 
 
5.  How does an 8-track work, anyway (when it works...)? 
 
6.  Where can I buy 8-track tapes and players? 
 
7.  How can I fix broken 8-tracks? 
  
    (See new stuff!)

    A.  How do you replace the foam backing pads on tapes? 
 
    B.  How do you replace the metallic sensing strip? 
 
    C.  How can I open the cart without damaging it? 

    D.  How to Open an Ampex/Lear Jet Cartridge.

    E.  Is there any hope for an 8-track in which all of the tape is just in a  
	big pile (untangled)?  Is there any way to spin it back on the reel? 
 
8.  Can I sell my 8-track tapes on alt.collecting.8-track-tapes? 
 
9.  What about that 8-track movie....? 
 
10.  Are my 8-tracks rare or valuable? How can I tell how much they're 
       worth? 
 
11.  Why do 8-tracks break and/or jam so easily? 
 
12.  What is that black gunk where the pinch roller should be? 
 
13.  Was any punk rock released on 8-track? 
 
14.  What's the deal with quadraphonic 8-tracks? 
 
15.  What about 4-track tapes? 
 
16.  What about the 8-track tape WWW site, "8-Track Heaven"? 
 
17.  And what about Dolby 8-track decks and tapes? 
 
18. Players 
 
  A.  I have an 8-track that plays too fast; is there any remedy?  
 
  B.  What's the best method for cleaning 8T tape heads?  
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~ 
 
ANSWERS 
 
1.  8-TRACK TAPES ON THE INTERNET? ARE YOU KIDDING? 
 
Up until the creation of this group on April 28, 1995, the only resources for those 
curious about the continuous-loop cartridge format called 8-track tape 
were stuck with a list of Beatles 8-tracks and a few home page 
mentions of music collections.  There was nothing that we could use.  No 
definitive representation of American pop culture in the past 20 years 
would be complete without at least some mention of the ever-present 
8-track tape.  It's like people are ashamed to admit they ever bought one. 
 
Well, as someone I know likes to say, it's not a CONTRADICTION, it's a 
PARADOX.  What possible place could clunky old mechanical has-been 
8-tracks have on the fast-paced, up-to-the-minute high tech Information 
Superhighway?  I'm glad you asked.  Well, I guess the first point worth 
making is that the Internet is really not all that much more modern than 
the 8-track.  If you know your cyber history, you'll recall that the 
Internet emerged out of Arpanet, which was  born in 1969, when 8-tracks 
themselves were still very young.  Doubtless many a Defense Department 
computer scientist enjoyed those twin pillars of technological progress 
- email and endless-loop cartridges. While the sudden popularity of the 
'net could scarcely be missed by anyone, perhaps you were not so aware 
that the 1990's also ushered in an 8-track renaissance.  8-tracks were 
rarely considered or discussed in the late 1980's except as a cruel joke, 
but the turn of the decade brought an accelerating interest in 'tracking 
which continues to this day.  There is a fanzine, a feature-length 
movie, lots of attention from the mainstream media and even several 
brand-new independent releases available on 8-track.  Countless numbers 
of 8-track fans worldwide have "come out of the closet" and let their 
8-track interests be known.  Many more have been introduced for the 
first time to the wonders of the endless loop.  The Internet provides 
the means for these people to get together, as it does for so many other 
groups.  But what about the rest of you, the ones who are reading this 
in amused or horrified silence?  Well, 8-tracks have something to say to 
every computer user and most particularly to everyone who uses the 
Internet.  Have you ever wanted to throw your computer out the window or 
against a wall?  Have you ever been confounded by the sheer number and 
variety of things that can go wrong with your machine?  Ever spent hours 
trying to tell if the problem was in the hardware or the software?  Then 
you have something in common with the 8-track hobbyist. Imagine a product 
for which the only manuals available are old and increasingly hard to 
get.  Imagine if every possible technical support number stopped 
answering the phone years ago.  What, you say you don't have to imagine, 
that I have just described the plight of the computer user as well as 
the 8-tracker?  My point exactly.  Some 8-trackers are making a 
statement with which computer users cannot help but sympathize.  What 
more eloquent protest against the forces which make consumer goods 
obsolete before they even go to market than buying your technology in 
thrift stores?    
  
If you get nothing else out of a.c.8-t-t but the realization that there 
is more than one way of looking at the world, then you have gotten the 
point.  
 
2. WHO INVENTED THE 8-TRACK TAPE? 
 
[8TM - David Morton]  The 8-track tape has roots that extend into the 
motion picture industry.  Endless loop motion pictures were made from 
the 1920s on for advertising or other special purposes.  With the 
appearance of inexpensive reel-to-reel tape recorders in the late 
1940s, several inventors adapted the endless loop motion picture idea 
for use with the new German-style plastic recording tapes.  Of these 
inventors, only one, William Powell Lear, gets much attention 
 
Long before he set down to work on the famous Lear Jet, Lear had made a 
name for himself developing instruments and communications equipment for 
airplanes.  In 1946 Lear Purchased a California company that had tried 
to market a steel-tape loop recorder based on the old Western 
Electric/AT&T Technology [from their 1933 "Hear Your Own Voice" endless 
loop recorders]. Bits of this technology made its way into his own 
design for several models of wire recorders announced in 1946, including 
an endless loop wire recorder. But Lear's early experiments did not 
result in a line of investigation that led directly to the 8-track. 
Instead, Lear dropped the project and subsequently was out of the loop 
for many years while he concentrated his efforts on aircraft. 
 
In the mean time, the focus of endless loop technology shifted from wire 
to tape and from Lear's Chicago headquarters to Toledo, Ohio.  There, 
Bernard Cousino, the owner of an Audio Visual equipment and service 
company, became interested in endless sound recordings.  He won a small 
contract to build a "point of sale" device -- that is, a store display 
that played a recorded message over and over endlessly.  
 
Cousino, aware of the widespread use of short motion picture film loops 
for similar purposes, began experimenting with an 8-millimeter endless 
loop film cartridge marketed by Television Associates, Inc. of New 
Hampshire.  Cousino soon developed a cartridge specifically adapted for 
audio tape that he marketed in 1952 through his company, Cousino 
Electronics, as the "audio vendor." The little cart could be used with 
an ordinary reel-to-reel player -- the cart fit over one reel spindle 
and the exposed loop of tape was fed through the heads. Later, Cousino 
would develop the Echomatic, a more advanced two-track cartridge which, 
like the later 8-track, required a special player. In the meantime, 
another inventor named George Eash designed and patented a similar 
cartridge that came to be known as the Fidelipac.  Following Cousino's 
pattern, Eash designed and patented a cartridge with similar 
specifications, later modifying it to include a more complex reel 
braking mechanism.    
 
Eash's cartridge was the basis of dozens of commercial applications of 
the endless loop, two of which were particularly successful. Eash's 
Fidelipac design became the basis of several new recorders adapted for 
radio station use; by the early 1960s, many radio stations had put some 
or all of their music, spot announcements, and station i.d.'s on carts 
that could be quickly inserted and played and which could be 
automatically stopped at the beginning of the recording.  
 
The second main commercial application was in the field of auto sound.  
Earl "Madman" Muntz was a former used car salesman who became something 
of a local celebrity on the West Coast by opening a chain of television 
retail outlets selling TV sets that were manufactured by his other firm, Muntz 
Television, Inc. When he discovered the Fidelipac in the early 1960's, 
he threw in his lot with the endless loop, never to return to the 
television business.  
 
Muntz had inexpensive Fidelipac players custom manufactured in Japan, 
and licensed the music of several record companies for duplication on 
carts.  Even though the players were intended to be installed in cars, 
Muntz sought to enhance the appeal of his product by adopting stereo 
tape standards established by recorder manufacturers a few years 
earlier, and his players used the new, mass  produced stereo tape heads 
being made for the home recorder industry by firms like Michigan 
Magnetics and Nortronics. These heads but two stereo programs, a total 
of four recorded tracks, on a standard 1/4 inch tape.  
 
Muntz players caught on quickly, starting an autosound fad in 
California which slowly spread east. By 1963 Muntz players were to be 
found stylishly adorning the underdash regions of Frank Sinatra's 
Riviera, Peter Lawford's Ghia, James Garner's Jaguar, Red Skelton's 
Rolls Royce, and Lawrence Welk's Dodge convertible.  During 1964 and 
1965 a number of major labels began issuing new releases and old 
favorites on 4-track, and the Fidelipac looked like it was going to be 
the next big thing in consumer audio.  A number of home players even 
appeared. 
 
Suddenly Bill Lear appeared on the scene, newly world famous for his 
Lear Jet business plane, and announced in 1965 that he had developed a 
cartridge with eight tracks that promised to lower the price of recorded 
tapes without any sacrifice in music quality.  Lear's enthusiasm for 
loops had not faded after the failure of his endless wire cartridge of 
the late 1940s. In 1963, he became a distributor for Muntz Stereo Pak, 
mainly in order to install 4-track units aboard his Lear Jets.  
Dissatisfied with the Muntz technology, he contacted one of the leading 
suppliers of original equipment tape heads, the Nortronics Company of 
Michigan.  He specified a head with much thinner "pole-pieces" and a new 
spacing that would allow two tracks (or one stereo program) to be picked 
off a quarter-inch tape that held a total of 8-tracks.  Although a 
departure from the Muntz player, the technology of the closely-stacked 
multi-track head was by the early 1960s well established in fields like 
data recording.  Lear in 1963 developed a new version of the Fidelipac 
cartridge with somewhat fewer parts and an integral pressure roller.  
During 1964, Lear's aircraft company constructed 100 players for 
distribution to executives at the auto companies and RCA. 
 
Just how Bill Lear got his products from the drawing board to the 
dashboards of Ford Mustangs and Fairlanes is a little unclear.  
Certainly Lear carried with him the cachet of his successful business 
jet project, and had many personal contacts in industry.  And in a 
roundabout kind of way, he already had ties to Ford.  In the 1930s Lear 
and his partner Paul Galvin had together built Motorola into a leading 
manufacturer of car radios, and Motorola was now affiliated with Ford.   
 
Whatever the details of Lear's selling job, the keys to its spectacular 
success seems to have been the backing of both Ford and the recording 
industry.  After getting RCA Victor to commit to the mass production of 
its catalog on Lear Jet 8-tracks, Ford agreed to offer the players as 
optional equipment on 1966 models.  The response, in one Ford 
spokesman's word, "was more than anyone expected."  65,000 of the 
players were installed that year alone.  The machines were initially 
manufactured by Ford's electronics supplier:  the firm that had 
pioneered the mass produced auto radio or "motor victrola" -- Motorola.  
 
Meanwhile, a number of new contenders rose up to enjoy fleeting moments 
of glory.  Bernard Cousino, arguably the source of much cart technology, 
has rendered a seemingly endless succession of endless loop 
technologies.  He had a measure of success with his Echomatic cartridge 
in the 1960s as a "point of sale" or educational audio-visual 
technology, largely by adopting Eash's strategy of licensing his designs to 
other firms.  In 1965 the success of the Echomatic spurred the Champion 
Spark Plug company (a subsidiary of Ford) to purchase a controlling 
interest in the firm.  At Champion's insistence, Cousino Electronics 
became a manufacturer of Lear-style players and was a major supplier for 
Sears Roebuck.  Looking for greener fields, Cousino had in the early 
1960s also linked up with Alabama entrepreneur and firebrand John 
Herbert Orr, whose Orradio Industries tape manufacturing firm (makers of 
Irish Brand tape) had recently been acquired by Ampex.  Orr and Cousino 
cooked up Orrtronics, a company that made a background music system 
based on the old Echomatic cartridge.  While Ford debated the adoption of the 
Lear Cartridge in 1965, Champion Spark Plug funded the development at 
Orrtronics of a competing system.  This was the ill-fated Orrtronics 
8-track, a remarkably better sounding but commercially unsuccessful 
response to Lear's cart.  The Orrtronic cartridge had a somewhat 
different tape path that reduced strain on the tape and allowed better 
head-to-tape contact, and was somewhat more compact to boot.  
Nonetheless, no record companies seemed interested, and the idea was 
stillborn.  Cousino continued to patent endless loop devices, such as a 
miniature cartridge and, now in his 90s, he has recently submitted a 
patent for an endless loop videocassette.   
 
Endless variations on the endless loop cart appeared during the 1960s 
and 1970s; a.c.8-t-t readers will undoubtedly continue to discover 
obscure cart formats.  The best known, of course was the Playtape, a 
tiny cart introduced in the fall of 1966 which later re-emerged in 
slightly modified form as the basis of a Dictaphone Corp. telephone 
answering machine in the 1970s.  Answering machines, in fact, were a 
major source of new endless loop variations from the 1960s on.  The 
success of the Fidelipac in radio spawned a host of imitators, including 
both the well known Audiopak (which by the way is still being 
manufactured), the Aristocart made in Canada, the Marathon made by some 
Massachusetts firm, and the Tapex.   
 
While carts themselves continued to be manufactured in the U.S., makers 
of 8-track players disappeared after only a few years.  The manufacture 
of 8-track players shifted almost entirely to Japan between 1965 and 
1970.  There were a few valiant efforts to revive the flagging American 
industry, but to little avail as the foreign firms cranked players out 
in huge numbers using cheap labor.  Nonetheless, Quatron, Inc., a 
Maryland firm, shone brightly for a few years making the now highly 
desirable Model 48 automatic 8 track changer, but its star soon faded.  
By the time the major record labels stopped offering new releases on 
8-track, there were no domestic manufacturers of home or auto players.  
 
 
3.  A. WHEN DID THEY STOP MAKING 8-TRACKS? 
 
You are assuming, of course, that nobody makes 8-tracks anymore; there 
IS at least one country music TV-album outfit from Tennessee who still 
market their goods on 8-track (Cindy Lou Records).  Also, a few hungry 
young bands have put out homemade 8's recently of (mostly) alternative 
music.  But you're probably talking about the big labels, who had 
8-tracks out of the stores by 1983.  The mail-order record and tape 
clubs, however, kept the Reaper away from the door for another few 
years, offering exclusive 8-track versions of top albums for some time.  
These tapes don't quite have the quality of prime 8-T craftsmanship, 
but watch your friends eyes bug out when you show them you have George 
Harrison's _cloud nine_  or Michael Jackson's _Bad_ on 8-track.  The last 
Columbia Record Club 8-track we know of was _Chicago  XIX_, which 
shipped in 1988. 

It has been reported from one tracker that in Mexico 8-tracks abound. This
tracker reports to have recently (1995) purchased some brand new Tejano,
brought into the country illegaly.
 
B.  WHY DID THEY STOP MAKING 8-TRACKS? 
 
Consumer demand for the 8-track-tape format was strongest from 1970-74. 
The format began dramatically losing market share after 1975. IMHO, the 
reasons the format fell into disfavor are: 
 
Audio industry improvements in the cassette format. During cassette's 
first few years, sound quality was mediocre, marred by tape drop-outs, wow 
and flutter, modulation noise, hissing, tape jamming, distortion, and poor 
frequency range. But in the early 1970s, cassettes were improved so that 
(potentially at least) their fidelity was equal to, or better than, 
8-track... the major audio manufacturers put their R&D efforts into 
upgrading cassette. 
 
The "high end" 8-track deck makers, Wollensak, Akai, Pioneer, and 
Realistic, stopped developing improved 8-track units around 1974. In fact, 
the short-lived Elcaset format received the R&D efforts that would have 
gone into better 8-track decks. 
 
Manufacturers adopted cheaper, flimsier, less reliable cartridge 
mechanisms. Tape jamming and mechanical problems were a major "kiss of 
death" to consumer acceptance of 8-track....and these problems were 
entirely avoidable if the tape makers had maintained consistent design 
standards and quality control. 
 
Relatively few decks, and relatively few 8-track-tapes, incorporated 
Dolby noise reduction. The Dolby-B system was widely adopted for cassettes 
during the late '70s, while very few 8-track decks incorporated Dolby 
circuits.  
 
In short: the same industry that improved cassette tapes from a mediocre 
dictating-machine medium to a hi-fi music format, failed to offer and 
promote improvements for the 8-track format.  Now they're trying to get 
rid of cassettes in favor of CDs...and then get rid of CDs in favor of 
HDCDs or the Smart Card. 
 
 RBENSLEY@GNN.COM 
 
4. WHAT IS "8-TRACK MIND"? 
 
8-Track Mind is the quarterly journal currently edited by Mr. Russel 
Forster of East Detroit, MI.  From it's Statement of Purpose: "We of the 
8-TRACK MIND are dedicated to our one pursuit:  to keep analog alive  
(in whatever form) for the coming day of its ultimate victory.  We will 
supersede all formats yet to emerge.  We and our followers adhere to the 
doctrine of the 8-NOBLE TRUTHS OF THE 8-TRACK 
MIND in all of our creative pursuits." 
 
THE 8 NOBLE TRUTHS OF THE 8-TRACK MIND 
 
0)  Understanding one's fate leads to greater acceptance. 
1)  State of the art is in the eye of the beholder. 
2)  Society's drive is on attaining rather than experiencing. 
3)  In less than optimum circumstances, creativity becomes all the more 
     important. 
4)  Progress is too often promises, promises, promises to get you to 
      buy, buy. 
5)  "New" and "improved" don't necessarily mean the same thing. 
6)  "Naive" is not a dirty word. 
7)  In seeking perfection has the obvious been overlooked? 
8)  Innovation alone will not replace beauty. 
 
The magazine features the always amazing Letters to the Editor section, 
frequently the largest section in the magazine, where trackers around 
the world unite in extolling the virtues of the endless loop cartridge; 
the rest of the publication is comprised of feature articles, fiction, 
art, and poetry from the vast cast of 8 TM writers, and PLUGS, a page of 
analog contacts provided in lieu of  classifieds and other advertising.  
 
At the time of this posting, the latest issue was #86, Fall 1995.  
Newcomers to 8TM are frequently surprised that this many issues have 
been published.  The answer lies in the early history of the magazine:  
The first 68 issues of 8TM were the creation of Mr. Gordon Van Gelder.  
Van Gelder began the magazine in 1970 and was its editor until it went 
under in 1982, when its creditors took  possession of its warehouse 
and took twelve years of back issues, which had been carefully preserved 
in polyurethane bags, and recycled them for newsprint (the creditors got 
$68.23 for them).  The magazine was revived in Chicago in 1990 with 
issue #69 under the guidance of Van Gelder, his son Keith Van Gelder, 
Russ Forster, Dan Sutherland, Kari Busch and others.  Due to internal 
turmoil at 8TM, by issue #74 Russ had taken over as editor/publisher 
with both Van Gelders leaving the magazine's staff.    
 
It is published in Feb., May, Aug., and Nov. by 8-TM Publications, P.O. 
Box 90, East Detroit, MI 48021 0090.  Single issues are $2; 
subscriptions are $8/yr (make checks payable to Russ Forster). 
 
 
5.  HOW DOES AN 8-TRACK WORK, ANYWAY (WHEN IT WORKS...)?   
 
An 8-track cartridge contains a length of 1/4 inch tape.  The ends 
of the tape are connected by a metal foil splice, thus forming a loop.  
The tape itself is divided along its length into 8 channels, or tracks 
(hence the name).  The playback head plays 2 of these tracks at a time - 
4 programs in stereo.  Inside the cartridge, the tape is wound around a 
central hub, or spool.  Tape pulls out from the center of the spool.  It 
moves to the top of the cartridge, where it connects with the playback 
head in the player through an opening at the top of the cartridge. A 
pressure pad in the cartridge presses the tape up against the playback 
head.  The capstan (part of the player) is spun by the player's motor.  
As the capstan spins, it rolls the tape against the pinch roller in the 
cartridge.  The capstan and the pinch roller move the tape along its 
path at 3 and 3/4 inches per second.  The tape finally loops back to the 
central hub, where it rewraps around the outside of the spool. When the 
entire length of tape has gone through this loop, the metal foil splice 
in the tape passes by a solenoid sensing coil which is positioned right 
next to the playback head in the player.  This moves the playback head 
along the width of the tape, and it starts to play a new program (remember, the 
tape contains 8 tracks, only 2 of which are supposed to be played at once).   
 
From the previous description, it is probably pretty obvious why 8-track 
is so terribly prone to malfunctions.  If you don't have a cartridge 
handy, get out a ruler.  Dividing 1/4 inch into 8 separate tracks makes 
for very small tracks.  Now think about the fact that the playback head 
has to pick up only 2 of those tracks at a time.  When you further 
consider that the playback head itself moves all the time, virtually 
assuring that it will eventually become misaligned, it becomes painfully 
clear why 8-track so often produces crosstalk or "sound bleeding" from 
one program into another. The relatively complex path that the tape has 
to travel is another problem.  This, combined with the fairly large 
number of moving parts in the cartridge, encourages tangling and tape 
backups.  Since the capstan's movement regulates tape speed and 
movement, the somewhat tenuous grip that the capstan/pinch roller 
combination has on the tape sometimes leads to tape slowdowns, even if 
the motor is moving at a correct and steady speed (which it often 
isn't).  Furthermore, the tape splice, the most vulnerable part of the 
loop, is put under constant pressure.  Four times during the playing of 
each tape, the splice is pulled past the playback head and through the 
capstan/pinch roller wringer.  This constant wear on the splice 
encourages it to split, which it often does.  Lastly, the age of most 
8-track cartridges means that some of the parts are likely to be 
decayed.  Foam pressure pads and rubber pinch rollers are the most 
commonly decayed parts of an 8 track, but the adhesive used on the metal 
splice also tends to break down.  
 
Abigail Lavine (abbot@pobox.com) 
 
6.  WHERE CAN I BUY 8-TRACK TAPES AND PLAYERS? 
 
The only retail outlets that still sell new 8-tracks are truck stops in the 
mid-west and the west, but they're mostly country music titles (see 
answer #3).  However, I did find a still-sealed Blue Oyster Cult track 
at a truck stop in Texas in 1993!  The only sources that remain for 
tapes and players are the usual:  yard sales, estate sales, auctions, 
flea markets, thrift stores, etc.  Also, let all your friends know (no 
matter how embarrassing) that you're collecting 8-tracks, and the word 
will get out.  People will suddenly start giving you 8-tracks and 
players that they find in their basement, their parents' attic, etc.  
Run ads in the local paper; strike a deal with local thrift stores or 
flea markets telling them that you'd like to have first dibs on 8-track 
goodies; go to junk yards and look in '60 and '70s cars for still intact 
car players (also, a lot of junk yards pull the players out of the cars 
and offer them for sale separately).  Also, use the Internet!  Put the 
word out on alt.collecting.8-track-tapes, or run a free ad on the 
"8-Track Heaven" web page in the Classified Ads section 
(http://pobox.com/~abbot/8track/) and check out the dealers' page 
there as well.   
 
And since Radio Shack (the last bastion of 8-track wares) dropped 
8-track players from their catalogs a few years back, there is no 
commercial source for 8-track tape players.  For years, rumors have 
floated around the 8-track community that vast warehouses of Radio Shack 
8-track equipment sit quietly,  somewhere, waiting for a well planned 
8-track commando raid...  
 
If you're lucky enough to live in New York City, though, Canal Street's 
many offbeat shops sometimes turn up new, in-the-box 8-track players.  
Otherwise, the above mentioned places apply. 
 
Finally, check the back pages of 8-Track Mind magazine for current 
listings of dealers that may have tapes and/or players for sale.  Happy 
hunting!   
 
7.  HOW CAN I FIX BROKEN 8-TRACKS? 
 
In the olden, golden days, local music dealers or record & tape shops 
would repair 8-tracks for a small fee.  These days, though, you gotta do 
it yourself.  The Realistic 8-Track  Cartridge Repair Manual is the best 
single source of instruction for repairing broken tapes.   You can 
purchase a copy of this manual for $4 from: 
Big Bucks Burnett
P.O. Box 720714
Dallas, TX 75372.  (Write for availability first). 

(New!)  In 1996, anywhere from 15-25 years after most 8-tracks you find 
will last be played, there are going to be problems playing most of 
them again unless you do a few things to prevent breaks and chewup.

As far as the player is concerned, you will have to clean the heads 
and roller as well as you can to eliminate buildup of residue.  You 
would also do well to have a head demagnitizer (which is avaiable 
at any radio shack).

As far as the tapes, when I get a new one, especially a tape I 
really care about, I DON'T STICK IT IN THE PLAYER.  I open the cart 
and make sure the tape rolls the way it's supposed to and that the 
spool closest to the center of the wheel hasn't risen above the 
rest of the tape making the tape coming from the center harder to 
come out (and easier to fold).  Opening CBS/Columbia & GRT carts 
are the easiest (just don't break the tabs), the black Warner and 
Capitol(easiest tab to break) carts are a little harder, and the 
RCA carts are next to impossible without a drill, however the RCA 
carts are the most well developed and reliable.

Once you make sure the tape is rolling correctly, you need to find 
the foil tape that splices the tape together.  I have a deck with 
fast forward that I can set to eject at the end of the program.  
This is the best way to handle it.  Once you find the foil, replace 
it with new foil and reinforce it on the back with splicing tape 
(both items easily found at your local radio shack).  You have now 
made the splice the strongest part of the tape.

As far as the pads, again depending on the manufacturer, you may 
need to replace them.  Older CBS, GRT, WB, & all Capitol pads will 
need replacing.  By '79 or '80 (earlier for CBS), the pads were 
made of a spring-like foam that will last indefinitely (as opposed 
to the earlier gooish pads).  Again, RCA & earlier Atlantic carts 
have actual metal spring pads that do the best.  You may need to 
re-glue the felt pads onto the metal springs.  If I'm out of pads I 
have scavenged from non-desirable tapes, I use auto 
weather-stripping with scotch tape on the outside cut to fit the 
tape area.  This can be found at any auto parts store.

As far as rollers, you are okay unless you have an older ('60s - 
early '70's) tape with the gooey roller.  Replace those immediately 
because even if they seem okay, they're not.

If you throw away any 8-tracks, be sure to scavenge them for 
rollers, pads, spools or even the shell itself because it always 
helps to have spare parts around.

If you do what I described above, your 8-tracks will be as reliable 
if not more so than the so-called 'superior' formats in mass 
production today.  Since I've adopted this method, I've never had a 
tape break and I've eliminated 'ghost tracks' or hearing another 
programs on the listening program.  If the record companies had 
cared a little more in the outset, the 8-track wouldn't have had 
such a lousy performance reputation.  But we all know what they're 
about (and it's not whether their product is reliable in the long 

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