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The story of music and melodies had all about digitization. This propagation has turned many good old musical devices into an outdated process, cassette deck is one of them. If you have, that is really good. If not, you can try with anyone from this best cassette deck list.
Still, there are people who have kept a Vincent cassette tape in their collection. It’s a great way to keep alive your old favorite songs and your own recordings as well.
However, as you’ve landed on this page, we’re pretty sure that you’re a lucky owner of a retro cassette deck, and looking for some actionable tips to maintain it properly. If it’s so, the entire article is written keeping users like you in mind.
The post is a one-stop care guide for maintaining your cassette deck exactly the way it should be. Let’s dive in-
What Items You’ll Be Needing for Cleaning a Deck Cassette?
To follow the cleaning instructions below, check out if you’ve got these few kits in hands-
- Cotton Swab
- Isopropyl Alcohol
- Microfiber Cloth
If it’s a thumbs up, let’s get into the main part of the article-
Step-by-Step Cassette Deck Cleaning Process
Step 1: Start with cleaning the head needle. Head needles do the work of reading your tape through recording or erasing the track.
Step 2: Dip a clean cotton swab in isopropyl alcohol. Rub the head area with it. Apply the vertical and horizontal style while rubbing. When the swab gets dirty, get a new one with isopropyl alcohol and repeat the process over again.
Step 3: You can make this rubbing process easy by pressing the play button and make the head run. Then, you just have to tap on it gently with the cotton swab soaked in isopropyl alcohol and it will be done.
Step 4: Continue doing this until the last cotton swab comes out totally white. Now, your cassette deck heads cleaning is done. Let’s move to the next steps.
Step 5: Now, it’s time to clean the capstan wheel, tape guides and pinch rollers. Here you need to apply the same process you did for cleaning the heads. Go on cleaning them with isopropyl alcohol and cotton swab until they are properly clean.
Step 6: Take a new isopropyl soaked cotton swab and wipe the two reels with it. The cotton swab will collect all the black dust out of the reels. You are perfectly done with the cleaning.
3 Tips to Focus On While Cleaning a Deck Cassette
- When all the steps up are done, let the cassette deck dry. Don’t put any tape when it’s in the wet condition otherwise, there are chances of damaging your tape.
- Read the manual book of your device very carefully to know about the critical parts and go through the appropriate way.
- It’s best to use the isopropyl alcohol instead of using other cleaning liquids because it contains less water and never causes rust to your cassette deck.
So, the cleaning tips and tricks are uncovered. That means you are done with the half maintenance process of your cassette deck. Now, let’s know the demagnetizing procedure which is considered to be the second most important fact in cassette deck repair.
Have a look below.
Why You Should Demagnetize Your Cassette Deck
Do you know why do you have to demagnetize your cassette deck? Well, the explanation is, Overtime the heads of your tape deck picks up a magnetic charge that slowly turns into small permanent magnets.
The slight amount of magnet can cause a noisy playback and might reduce high frequencies. And if the heads are extremely magnetized it will constantly damage your tapes by erasing them in a small amount.
So, you can guess the importance of demagnetizing your tape deck. Let’s learn the way.
Demagnetizing Process
Before starting the process you need to buy a tape deck demagnetizer. You can find them easily on the internet and in cassette deck shops as well. Get a good one and follow the step-by-step process below.
Step 1: Plug in the demagnetizer and turn the power on. Keep the tool away from the deck and other audio equipment.
Step 2: Open the door to your cassette deck and make the way open wide to reach the heads area easily.
Step 3: Stand maintain some distance from the tape deck and slowly move in the demagnetizer towards the heads.
Step 4: Get close to the heads and move the demagnetizer across the magnetized area without touching them. Continue this for few seconds.
Step 5: Start moving back and slowly remove the demagnetizer from the deck. Now, turn it off. Your tape deck is demagnetized.
Tips On the Focusing Facts
- During the entire process make sure there is no audio equipment kept around because they can get damaged.
- Never turn off the demagnetizer when it’s close to the heads else it will increase the magnetic power that you are trying to remove.
- Demagnetizing a used tape deck is a way more necessary than demagnetizing a new one.
- You must buy a demagnetizer that has a plastic cover to hold without any risk.
- You should demagnetize your device at least once a year.
Final Words
This article is an all in one maintenance guide you may follow to ensure the best care for your cassette deck. Just read the entire article very carefully and follow the instructions exactly to ensure the outstanding performance of your tape deck every time you play your favorite music.
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