I need to get a bunch of these.

They list available 8-tracks and quads. I only have one from the right time period. I want some '72-'77 or so.

My Big Score; I'm going broke
Today I was trying to Christmas shop for my girl, but I failed and bought $60.90 of 8-tracks instead. I am pretty pleased with them, but that was money I didn't have. I have to try not to go to In Your Ear, a record store on Commonwealth Ave. here in Boston that has tons of awesome 8-tracks for $2 each. I only got 27 though. The cashier and I counted up wrong. He charged me for 29! But they're worth it. Here's what I got. Most of these were sealed.

-Buffalo Springfield - Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay, Jim Messina, Bruce Palmer, Dewey Matin - That seems to be the title. Atco ATC TP-2-806, a double play length 8-track.
-King Curtis - S/T An Italian made 8-track! Wea Italiana SpA seems to be the company. CTR 820041. Nice label pic too.
-The Very Best of Martin Denny UA-EA383-R
-Billie Holiday - Lady SIngs the Blues TCB 8-1005 No other info. What's TCB? Is this a bootleg?
-Janis Ian - S/T Polydor 8F 6058
-Laura Lee - Women's Love Rights Hot Wax HWX M8708 (Great album)
-Ramsey Lewis - The Piano Player, art sleeve, melted roller, GRT/Cadet 835-8836
-Ramsey Lewis - Them Changes, " " " 8035-8844
-Mandrill - Beast From The East UA-EA577-H, 1975
-Mandrill - Mandrilland Polydor 8F2B-9002, 1974
-Mandrill - Solid UA-EA408-H, 1975
-Hugh Masekela - I am Not Afraid, Blue Thumb, BLE F 86015
-Meco - Music from Star Trek and the Black Hole, Casablanca NBL 8-7196
-The Motels - S/T Capitol 8XT-11996, 1979
-Sandy Nelson - Wild Drums, Sunset (Liberty/UA) S-1018
-Michael Nesmith - From a Radio Engine to a Photon Wing, Pacific Arts PACTR-107, 1977
-The New York Loft Jazz Sessions - Wildflowers IV Casablanca NBL-87048
-The Nice - Elegy, Charisma Y8CAS 1030 (UK)
-Buddy Rich/ Lionel Hampton - Transition w/ Zoot SIms, Groove Merchant, GRM F 83302
-The Rutles - S/T, Warner Bros. WB W8 3151, Came with a card to order a free 20 page booklet explaining the history of the Rutles.
-Mongo Santamaria - Soul Bag, TC8, 18 10 0436
-Mongo Santamaria - Workin' on a Groovy Thing, TC8, 18 10 0806
-Nina Simone - Emergency Ward, RCA P8S-2022
-Nina Simone - Sings the Blues, RCA P8S-1222
-Small Faces - Archetypes, very moldy even though it was sealed!
-Soul Flute - Trust in Me A&M 8T-3009
-Having Fun With Ernie and Bert Sesame Street Records 8T-5006 1972

I can't believe I spent that much. This is getting to be shopaholic. I gotta watch out!

Quads for Trade
Hey, I finished alphabetizing my quadraphonic carts. I find I have 346 unique albums, including 5 broken tapes. I sorted out some 29 duplicates. Now I have to find 4 working speakers to hook up and try some of my players to see if they work. Yes, it's true, Swamp Rat has never, ever, actually heard quadraphonic sound. I made a great deal with Dr. 8-Track about 5 years ago, and got almost all the tapes then, but I have never since had the time and space to unpack them and set up players and all. I feel that the time has come to try it.

Meanwhile, my Santana - Welcome album needed a new splice. When I looked inside it was wound too loosely and coming off the spool in the middle. I unfurled about twenty feet - no lie - and I am still trying to get it back together again. Argh.

8-Track Repairs
I got the lot of psychedelic 60s bands I won on ebay yesterday. They practically all needed repairs. I'm glad I bought them, because they were pretty cheap for some hard to find bands, but I think the seller probably knew how effed up they were. They all had super lousy pads. When I opened them they had various problems inside too.

First I fixed the Tremeloes. A Capitol cart, it had a screw under the cover pic. I tried to make a neat incision so I could fold the flap of the label back down over the screw when the repairs were done. Inside the tape was pushed up above the spool in the middle and about 5 inches was accordioned up as if it had been jammed in a player before. I rewound it all correctly and the accordioned bit doesn't sound right but it's a great album. It plays well now with a new pad.

Then I worked on the Ides of March. It too needed pads and was coming unspooled in the middle, but at least it hadn't been accordioned up anywhere. It was the easy-to-open kind too. It plays perfectly now.

The Strangeloves was an Automate cart. It had two screws under the label! Once I figured that out I was home free. Those Automates are well made. I changed the pads on that, and Spiral Starecase, and Human Beinz. The seller threw in a Steeleye Span cart in which the tape had folded in half lengthwise and eventually flipped over backwards and then played until the whole tape is spooled on backwards! Thanks a lot. I believe I have fixed this before by playing it until it repeats the process in reverse and then unfolding the folded area so it can't go backwards again. Oy!

Then I went back to fixing Morton Gould's Jungle Drums. I finally got it wound up at the correct tension, but it still won't play. I think I have the tape path wrong. Every time I put it in, it feeds into the empty space in the tape instead of flowing around the outer hub the way it's supposed to. I tried every tape path I could come up with though and none of them work. It is weird. An 8-track conundrum. It's an RCA cart. Any suggestions? I put it in a bag.

My repair skills all limbered up, I attacked a few RCA riveted carts. I found that if you destroy the plastic around the rivet-head you can pull the rivet out. I have a great pair of pliers for this. From a dentist's office. They look like they were used to pull horse's teeth or something. Huge, needle-nosed, and with an angle in the handle. I fixed Al Caiola, Tommy Dorsey and Super New Sounds of the 70s before I realized I was doing myself injury with the pliers. I had been bracing the end of the handle against my stomach and repeatedly pinching it between the handles. Now I have a purple bruise. But I fixed three of those consarned difficult tapes with minimal damage to their cases.

Then I tried another Ampex cart. Bad move. I destroyed the case using the prying method. The center plastic pin simply would not budge. The case broke instead. I can put it back together and play it, but it looks like hell. Some of them pop right open, but some give me a pain.

Well I thought that was enough work, and destruction, for one night. Especially after I realized I was bruising my stomach! But there's a learning curve. You hafta keep fixing them to learn how to do it right. Now I have a method for rivets that I like.