Topic: weird issue with a cassette

[rhinowing]

I've got a Maxell XL-IIS I'm transferring and it seems like one of the plastic spools is loose. This causes the treble to drop in and out on the transfer every few seconds. Is there any easy way to fix this, short of moving the tape to an entirely new housing?

[Eigenklang]

Do you mean by "loose" that the tape is not fixed to the spool at the end? Can you see this change of the tape's tension during playback?

If yes, fix one spool with your fingers and turn the other one. Do no fast forward spooling until you are sure that the cassete is 100% ok.

Another reason for periodically loss of highs is demagnetization caused by strong magnetic fields.

[rhinowing]

no, the plastic spool is actually slightly loose within the plastic housing...