anyone know how to fix a snapped dat?

[marc0789]

beautiful calexico show from last night, great sound...and just snapped the sucker. Help!!! Thanks, Marc.

[bluegrass_brad]

Is it in the middle or near the beginning or end?

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

it depends on where the tape snapped.   If it's at the leader or trailing end of the tape, you can open the shell and reattach the tape to the hub.  I don't know which tape you are using but all the ones I've opened had a sliding part that holds the tape to the hub.  I fixed a couple of snapped tapes this way.

If it's in the middle of the set, you can do the same thing but you have to sacrifice another tape of the same brand.  Open the other shell and remove the tape so that you have a shell and two blank hubs.  Then do as described above with each of the spools from the broken tape.  Reassemble both cases with part in one and part in the other.   You'll lose a small part of the music but you'll recover most of it. 

[marc0789]

thanks guys..so what adhesive do you use to reattach the broken ends?...it's about 2/3 through the set, unfortunately. Thank you!

Or wait....you mean attach the broken end to one spool, right?

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

you don't need adhesive.   The tape is attached to the hub with a locking insert.  It slides in and out of the hub with the end of the tape wrapped behind it.   When you open the shell and look at it, it should be obvious how it works.   You can probably see it without opening the shell if you have a tape shell with a large enough window.  All you have to do is slide the lock out off place, remove the leader piece, put the end of your tape in there and replace the locking piece.  It's plenty strudy without any type of adhesive.

Yes, attach the broken end to a new spool.   You'll need to open another tape shell, remove that tape and use the two spools as new ends for your tape that is split in the middle.   Use the same type of tape for the donor so that your spools mount and ride correcly.  You'll wind up with two DAT tapes when you are done.

[bluegrass_brad]

it depends on where the tape snapped.   If it's at the leader or trailing end of the tape, you can open the shell and reattach the tape to the hub.  I don't know which tape you are using but all the ones I've opened had a sliding part that holds the tape to the hub.  I fixed a couple of snapped tapes this way.

If it's in the middle of the set, you can do the same thing but you have to sacrifice another tape of the same brand.  Open the other shell and remove the tape so that you have a shell and two blank hubs.  Then do as described above with each of the spools from the broken tape.  Reassemble both cases with part in one and part in the other.   You'll lose a small part of the music but you'll recover most of it. 

This is the way to go about it.  Just use any SCI show as the sacrificial DAT.... your ears will thank you later when they are listening to that Calexico!

[Simp-Dawg]

i think the advice given may not be appropriate for marc's predicament.

if the tape snapped in the middle of the music, here's what you need to do.

open up the protective latch and find both ends where it snapped, first.  then take a small piece of scotch tape, apply it to the underside of the dat tape, and very carefully wind the tape back up to the beginning...do NOT rewind in a player.

You have one chance to play the tape so transfer it right away...then trash the dat.

[bluegrass_brad]

What Kim Jong is saying is to take each section of the broken tape.  In the originally snapped DAT case take the front section of broken tape and attach it to the back reel, making that section it's own tape.  Then sacrifice an SCI dat( ) by removing it's tape.  Then take the other section of the snapped DAT, attach it to the front reel, insert the back reel that it is connected to already. making it is it's own tape of the last section.  You only lose the very small part of the music contained on the part that is connected to the spool.

[BobW]

Don't splice a DAT in the middle, make it into two separate tapes using the shell from something else.
You may want to listen to what you're trashing first, and be sure that another copy exists.

If I kept my judgment of some 80s Dead shows throughout my life, I would have tossed allot of good music.
There was a time that the dragging shows with Roses were intolerable to me; now I see serious beauty and emotion in the guitarwork
(1-12-79 is a case in point)
Although there was a serious Alfalfa vocal thing going on     

I've said it before, and will again, the disbanding of SCI is a huge loss, if not for what they are right now, but rather what they are capable of.
The '98-'00 is devastating.
There are still many brilliant moments.
Doubting the power of cheese? Nothing up my sleeve, and presto !:
http://www.archive.org/details/sci2006-11-25.mk41

[bluegrass_brad]

Trust me, I barely listen to jamband music as it is, and I worked for one for a couple of years . If Im listening to a jamband it needs to be something with some balls or at least somewhat original sounding.  Ive seen enough of SCI (and over a long enough period of time) to know I dont like them.

*edited for clarity

[BobW]

Trust me, I barely listen to jamband music as it is, and I worked for one for a couple of years . If Im listening to a jamband it needs to be something with some balls or at least somewhat original sounding.  Ive seen enough of them (and over a long enough period of time) to know I dont like them.

Do you mean the change up from Monroe's Lonesome Wind Blues to Arrested Development's send-up of Everyday People is too much of a  shift for your gearbox?     
Well, I can appreciate that.
I was weaned on Art Rock, so if it doesn't make spastic meter, timing and feel changes, it's not music to me     
(now just where did I put those Focus, PFM, Yes, ELP, and G.G. albums?)

Anyhow, it's a great show and a dang decent audience recording.
SCI was tight and right, and the Fabulous Fox wasn't sounding too bad at all.
If the mood and spirit move you, you could spend your time worse.
Of course, there is always the "Christmas with the Rat Pack" CD....
And if you haven't heard the Leonard Bernstein/ Aaron Copeland El Salon Mexico, do yourself a huge sonic favor

[marc0789]

Don't splice a DAT in the middle, make it into two separate tapes using the shell from something else.
You may want to listen to what you're trashing first, and be sure that another copy exists.

If I kept my judgment of some 80s Dead shows throughout my life, I would have tossed allot of good music.
There was a time that the dragging shows with Roses were intolerable to me; now I see serious beauty and emotion in the guitarwork
(1-12-79 is a case in point)
Although there was a serious Alfalfa vocal thing going on     

I've said it before, and will again, the disbanding of SCI is a huge loss, if not for what they are right now, but rather what they are capable of.
The '98-'00 is devastating.
There are still many brilliant moments.
Doubting the power of cheese? Nothing up my sleeve, and presto !:
http://www.archive.org/details/sci2006-11-25.mk41

well, simpy's solution worked like a dream.

[BobW]

When you say dream, was there any tick pop or massive tracking error or was it simply transparent?

I was basing what I wrote on this 1993 Scott Dorsey DATHeads post:

From: Scott Dorsey <oldaddress[AT]blah.blah.blah.nasa.gov>
Subject: DAT splicing
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 93 09:10:37 EDT


Yes, I have made a DAT spliceblock, by milling a 4mm groove down a
conventional spliceblock.  Any good precision machine shop should be
able to do such a thing for you, and shouldn't charge more than a
couple of bucks.  The problem is getting the splicing tape.

I found the easiest way was to apply 1/2" tape perpendicular to the
tape itself, then trim the edges.  If anyone out there remembers the
old Gibson Girl editors, this is pretty much the same idea, although
it's a bit difficult to get it into the splice block.  You'll get
some trash at the edit, though.

The trash is the result of two factors, the first being the thickness
of conventional splicing tape.  It's going to slow down the tape as
it passes through the machine and really produce a lot of errors.  The
other factor is the fact that you are making a 45' cut through a tape
with a much more acute helical scan.  It's possible to make a splicing
block whose angle matches the tape scan (does anyone out there remember
editing 2" quad videotape by hand?), but it's not easy to make, not easy
to use, and not really needed for emergency work anyway, which is all
I would recommend using the thing for.
--scott