Back in the day, my buddy and I were running at the Greek, CA and a girl walking by with a coke that had to be close to 1/2 a gallon, stumbled and spilled the entire thing into our bag. While my friend, for some unknown reason, continued to hold the mics, I was sucking ice cubes out of the headphone jacks of a pair of D5's. It must have been a sight to behold! There was so much soda that when I ejected the cassette, I was able to flick the beverage out of it as if it were a saturated sponge. Needless to say, we didn't finish recording that show. However, the decks were saved. After letting them dry out, a slightly damp non-abrasive cloth with very little water on it was enough to clean all the necessary parts. A sparing amount of rubbing alcohol finished the job and we were rolling the next day. I had mine professionally cleaned when the tour was over anyway. All was good in the end... Sometimes the simplest and most obvious answer is the right one. Good luck, just remember to take it slow. Baby steps. Once yo go to far, it's to late.