Darrell Clarke enquires about other methods of getting thin strips of
tape from a roll of Filmoplast.  I pull 3 or 4 cm of tape off the roll
and the backing automatically separates, as Darrell says.  I have a
pair of long-bladed hairdresser's scissors and I hold them open and
place the strip of tape lengthwise along the top of one of the cutting
edges of the scissors, so that one quarter of the width sticks out one
side and three quarters sticks out the other.  There is enough adhesive
in contact with the edge of the blade to ensure that the tape doesn't
move.  Close the scissors and one has a quarter-width strip of tape
with two straight edges.  Repeat three more times.

These skinny strips are hard to handle.  I have made a tool consisting
of about 8 cm of straight, springy, stainless steel wire, let into the
end of a short length of wooden dowel, which acts as a handle.  I tack
a strip of tape along the wire and find that this gives me considerable
manouvering power when lining up the edge of the tape with the edge of
the roll.  And I always apply tape to both edges of the roll, even if
one side is quite undamaged, to avoid assymetrical tape build-up.

One often finds rips in a roll leader, usually around the tab.  Here
some strength may be required and I usually use Filmoplast P90.  This
is thicker and stronger than the transparent Filmoplast P tape but it
is an opaque white, so is best used on the underside of the leader.

Oh yes, and having seen the cockles (bumps) at the edge of a roll that
I mended years ago with long strips of Magic Tape, I try to avoid tape
strips longer than about 5 cm.

I have been mending rolls for a long time and have found all sorts of
inappropriate materials used by past owners to keep their rolls playing.
I remember once seeing  what seemed to be a length of bacon rind come
rearing out of the spool box at me when I tried out a newly acquired
Recordo roll.  On inspection it proved to be fossilised masking tape;
it certainly had a remarkable effect on the music.

However I found a new roll repair material in a Hupfeld roll the other
day - paraffin wax.  There was a short length of minor damage on one
side, according to the note I wrote myself when I first got the roll,
so I thought that fixing it would be a pushover.  But when I unrolled
the damaged section and started teasing out the foldovers I discovered
that flakes of a white waxy substance were piling up on my fingernails.
I think someone had rubbed a candle along the damaged edge to try to
bridge over the splits.  It didn't work.

Fortunately placing a paper towel under the edge and rubbing the top
surface carefully with a tissue soaked in white spirit seems to remove
the wax.  The paper is accepting Filmoplast well enough so the problem
is solved - maybe.

John Phillips in Hobart, Tasmania.