Breathing New Life Into Dead Tapes

1. Search for bulk cassette buys at garage sales, online and at thrift stores. When buying tapes individually try to look for tapes that have screws.

2. Rewind and disassemble your cassettes. Save all the screws, wheels (check for metal brackets), and plastic side pieces. You also want to save the felt pads if they are in good condition, some are old and covered in crap. I like to keep all of these pieces in separate containers for easy future access. 

3. Cut the tape at the leader. Save these pieces still attached to the wheel. You can quickly attach these to new pieces of cassette tape later on. 

4. Clean the cassette shells completely, you can use a magic eraser sponge to easily remove writing on the shells. I like to wash the shells inside and out with hot water and soap before drying them or stacking them to dry.

5. (Optional) Paint the shells! If you do this you will want to tape off the clear windows on the tapes; if painting a clear tape I recommend taping a small window with painters tape. When painting use multiple light layers until you get you desired look, you do not want over spray you’re tapes and have thick layers on them, that’s not good to anyone’s tape deck. 

6. LET THE PAINT SET! It may seem like the paint is dry after a few hours but please do not start working with them at this point! It can take up to a week for paint to fully set on plastic and I always give it that time to cure otherwise the paint can chip off and yet again that’s not good for anyone’s tape deck!

7. Fill them back up with tape! Now make loops, use these shells for your next tape release or just use them in the studio.