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Re: Clarion Chipmunk Effect
Posted by Unknown Sender (more from Unknown Sender) on Wed, 9 Apr 2003 22:47:18
In Reply to: , Kok Chen, Sat, 17 Dec 1988 12:00:00 

>When I first insert a cassette (no matter how long the radio has been on),
>it plays as if it is playing in fast forward mode, sounding like the chipmunks

Cassette players have two mechanisms for moving the tape - a belt that spins
the take-up reel, and a rubber pinch roller that pinches the tape between
itself and a spinning capstan that keeps the speed on the tape constant.
Apparently what is happening is the pinch roller is not pinching well enough
and allowing the tape-up reel to pull the tape past at too great a speed.  As
the pinch roller warms up, it is apparently softening up enough to start
doing its job.   There are at least two possibilities - either the pinch
roller is dirty and slick with tape particles and needs a good cleaning, or
it has hardened with age and doesn't grab the tape well enough until it gets
fully warmed up.

The first thing to do is to try cleaning it.  The easiest way is to buy a
cassette head cleaner (looks like a cassette tape) that has little pieces of
felt that rub against the head and capstan/pinch roller.  You soak the felt
with alcohol, stick the cleaner cassette in the machine and let it play for a
while.  If you do this, make sure you get one with the felt pieces and
alcohol - some of them are just a strip of head cleaning 'tape' that plays.
These do nothing for the capstan and pinch roller, and some of them can
actually damage the heads.  Your other choice is to clean it manually with a
long cue tip and alcohol, like the ones the nurse uses to see if you have
strep throat.  This may or may not work all that well, depending on if you
can push something inside the player with another long stick to fool it into
thinking that there is a tape in it and playing.  Otherwise, the pinch roller
will just spin around and you won't be able to hold it still to give it the
good scrubbing it needs.

I work at a radio station, and back in our reel-to-reel tape machine days, we
cleaned heads, capstan and pinch roller before every use.  It's amazing the
junk tape leaves behind.

Good luck!

John Francis
1987 900S  180,000
1990 900S  117,000 (with an in-dash Minidisc!)

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