Hi all—I've both been busy at digitizing my cassette tapes that Dick didn't get to, and have been unable to get into this page to tell you about it, because of a technicality with the site. But here's a quickie-update.
First, Peter was here in October, and not only cleaned up (streamlined) a lot of the wiring of my computer/audio set-up, but selected for me a nifty little machine into which I can record my cassette tapes, leaving my computer free for me to do Other Things while digitizing progress is being made: a Tascam DR-40. This is pretty easy to use, AND did not break the bank (they cost about $150). In addition, I now have a decent portable device on which I can make new recordings, besides digitizing the ones I have.
So I bombed through several trips' worth of tapes, and then...I tried to record one, and it sounded—not merely "bad", but AWFUL! I could hardly hear anything, and the sound was wobbly. I cleaned the play head and pinch rollers, tried it in the other deck, in the other direction, but nothing helped. Yet evidence showed that I had once listened to this tape and taken careful notes on contents! Suddenly I remembered seeing Dick do something many years ago. Just as he had done, I whipped the tape out of the machine, turned it over to inspect the little felt pressure pad that keeps the tape snug against the record/playback head. I guess I can't show you exactly what I saw, because that piece of evidence is lost in the shuffle, but here is the difference between a Good pressure pad and a Bad one:
Sometimes they get eaten entirely away, which was the case in the poor cassette I had in hand!
So now what? Fortunately, having lived through this problem before, I knew what to do. I keep a bag of cassettes whose contents I don't care about, for exactly this purpose. You have to unscrew the 5 screws holding the cassette together, separate the two halves CAREFULLY, and remove a good pad (mounted on a narrow strip of springy metal) from an otherwise "dead" cassette. Having done that, you open your damaged cassette with even more care (the other one was just "practice" for this part). Most of all, you do not want to scatter the contents. You don't want the tape itself to unwind, or get out of its "track"; you don't want to lose the plastic sheets that encourage smooth tape travel; nor do you want to dislodge the little rollers with pins inside that can come out and get lost. Did all that work? GREAT, if so, you carefully (using tweezers) lift the bad pad out, throw it away or keep it in your Demo collection, and equally carefully plop the new pad assembly into its place. Once you're sure it's in correctly, reassemble the cassette (being sure the tape doesn't get pinched somewhere as you do so), put back the screws, and voilà! a cassette with a working pressure pad!
But then, having discovered this one VERY bad one, I examined all the other cassettes in my big box o' recorded tapes. I discovered some 30-35 that had pads in greater or lesser need of replacement! I've now spent several hours (is it more than 4? I didn't count) doing this, and as far as I know everything is back in working order. In the process I noted a few tapes I thought I should just re-digitize, because though their pads were not Awful, they were definitely not good. I got pretty good and even quick at doing this, and am thinking of making a video—if I succeed in that, I'll put a link here.
There's one more thing, though. Having replaced the damaged goods, how do I prevent it from happening all over again? You know what moths like to eat: WOOL (and some other things, including, as I've discovered, some things like polar fleece that I don't believe are edible!); these little all-important pads are made of felt, which is usually made of—WOOL. OK, this is a problem I've been dealing with for a number of years. I've now seriously reduced the number of moths in my house and stuff, but they do come back, either because you miss some eggs, or because new ones enter your house.
The solution is amazingly simple: you asphyxiate them with carbon dioxide! (Don't believe what you grew up with hearing about moth balls—I've found a living larva in a garment that had been kept for about a month in a heavy plastic bag with mothballs! Even if mothballs get the living moths and larvae, they don't appear to get the eggs....) So your prep is pretty easy: you arm yourself with some heavy-duty "contractor" plastic bags (check them for leaks, though), or some bins—or even clean trash cans—with loose-fitting lids. You put your stuff in one of these things, in a place where you can leave it undisturbed for several days to a week. When you're all ready, you go to the nearest store where you can get DRY ICE (pellet form is most convenient, but you do what you gotta do). USE GLOVES so you are not handling it with your bare hands, because you'll get a nice "burn", the stuff is COLD. You rush home with this, because it sublimates pretty quickly. You put about 1/2 to 1 pound of dry ice into each bag/bin/barrel, and close the top LOOSELY. As the dry ice sublimates, it releases carbon dioxide, which is heavier than air, so it settles. You want it to drive out the air, and you don't want the bag to explode! Leave it undisturbed for a few days to a week, and you should be home free. Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides has a nice page on this.
And now, back to work....
Ok, well, I do hope you get them all digitized, that way, if you so wish to, you could let go of all those cassettes. I can't think of a reason you would need to keep them, but you may have your reasons! Good Luck!
I acquired moths by accident from my parents' house when we were emptying it in prep for sale. They devoured my antique Macedonian socks which were unfortunately very dirty (I've discovered that at least the socks are machine washable with Woolite and gentle cycle if they are placed in a mesh bag). They'd had quite a romp in my whole house for two years or more before I'd discovered them. I made sachets from several herbs/spices (recipe enclosed) to keep them out of everything (they still breed under my bird cage - feed on the feathers). I've kept them down but not eradicated them for the past 11 years. I have to wash or dry clean all clothing, especially jackets, hats, etc for winter. Constant vigilance is key.
Moth Repellant Herb Mixture
For large batch (eg, large mixing bowl full):
½ pound rosemary
½ pound mint (I use peppermint)
¼ pound thyme
¼ pound ginseng (I never found this in bulk, so didn’t use it)
½ pound whole cloves
For a small batch:
2 ounces rosemary
2 ounces mint
1 ounce thyme
1 ounce ginseng
8 ounces whole cloves
I used dried herbs that I got at the co-op. I think fresh would work, too, but make sure they are not damp or moist before making the sachets.
To make the sachets: cut a square of light-weight fabric (eg, cotton) about 4 inches x 4 inches (it depends on how large a sachet you want). Spoon some of the herb mixture onto the center of the square. Gather the corners and sides together carefully and tie with a piece of string, yarn, or thread.
Put them between layers of fabrics they are in already or potentially, hang them – right on a coat hanger works (for non-traditional clothing).
NB: My infestation was so large and they feasted so long before I discovered them that I had them all over the house, so I put sachets everywhere. They had started in my living room (I had inadvertently brought them home from my parents’ house in an antique hand-hooked rug when I was emptying the house in prep for selling it) in the corner where my birds are caged, and gorged themselves on the shed feathers (full of nice preening oil). I had noticed the stripped shafts but didn’t put two and two together until I discovered my Macedonian sox chewed to nothing at the toes. It has taken several years to get rid of enough of them by killing them whenever I see them to decrease the breeding population, and I’m not convinced that they are really gone.
Two recognition hints: they are kind of a golden color and about 1/16 inch long. When they are on a wall or ceiling they might look like a tiny dark line. The males fly and the females tend to crawl.
If you find them in something, put it into a plastic bag and into the freezer for minimum three days. Then wash or dry clean. I’ve also read that putting the item out in hot sun will kill the larvae and adults, too.
Thanks, Ceil! Have to compare your recipe with the one Pat and I devised. But my faith in that one plummeted when I found moths had eaten huge holes in a lovely knitted woolen vest from Draginovo.... Not only eaten: the area around the sachet was the MOST HEAVILY eaten! So I think I'll stick with the dry ice - though the sachets may help some too, and they do smell nice!