• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

3M/Scotch color tape reels

RAID10

RAID10

New Member
I have been looking for the 7" colored plastic reels made by scotch and I've seen red, blue and yellow but I have no idea where they come from. I thought maybe it was some of the testing samples or some sort of special package.

Anyone know where these came from?
 
Register to hide this ad
You sure they're Scotch? I know Capitol/Audiotape did some colored reels (4 holes), but never seen Scotch in anything but clear, smoke, or white.
 
Old Busted H said:
You sure they're Scotch? I know Capitol/Audiotape did some colored reels (4 holes), but never seen Scotch in anything but clear, smoke, or white.
Click to expand...

Yeah, definitely 3m/scotch. My dad had a yellow 5" reel and there is a guy selling the red ones on the bay. I saw one auction that had a blue but I was outbid. I guess I can't say for sure that was a scotch but pretty sure it was.

I'm starting to think they were special for govt or big biz orders maybe?
 
Wow I have never seen colored 7" reels from Scotch. I have a pair of Gold alloy 10.5" Scotch reels as I collect 10" reels.wife thinks I have lost my mind.:yes:
I only have purchased Akai Logo alloy silver reels for my two 7" machines so I don't
look for the 7". I have a friend that has hundreds of reels and about 80 Studer/Revox machines in the UK. I will email Zapper (terry) and ask. He is in his late 60's and his Dad was into R2R he really knows his tape history.
 
LAB3 said:
Wow I have never seen colored 7" reels from Scotch. I have a pair of Gold alloy 10.5" Scotch reels as I collect 10" reels.wife thinks I have lost my mind.:yes:
I only have purchased Akai Logo alloy silver reels for my two 7" machines so I don't
look for the 7". I have a friend that has hundreds of reels and about 80 Studer/Revox machines in the UK. I will email Zapper (terry) and ask. He is in his late 60's and his Dad was into R2R he really knows his tape history.
Click to expand...

Your friend in the UK wouldnt have a spare capstan speed control board for a Revox a700 would he?? Im in the UK too,and really need one :(
 
I had a Scotch 7" red reel, but the tape was made back when they had acetate binders, so...ew.
Can't recall whether the box was marked differently or not.
 
Wilburchubs said:
Your friend in the UK wouldnt have a spare capstan speed control board for a Revox a700 would he?? Im in the UK too,and really need one :(
Click to expand...

Paul check your PM box. If he does not have a spare he knows someone in your area that does.
Cheers
Louis
 
I've had a few of those over the years and I wondered why they made them too. I still have 3 color tinted 5" reels (one red, one yellow and one green) with Chinese language lessons on them that came from the local University.
 
I have some of those and they are from the early to middle 60's. I've got a blue, a yellow and a red and I think they all are Scotch 175 tape. I take it that tape is pretty strong since I got them from someone who did not exactly keep them in best environment and they still play well.
 
Here they are:
attachment.php
attachment.php

attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • Scotch Blue.jpg
    Scotch Blue.jpg
    107.2 KB · Views: 162
  • Scotch Red.jpg
    Scotch Red.jpg
    87 KB · Views: 94
  • Scotch Yello.jpg
    Scotch Yello.jpg
    95.8 KB · Views: 97
I have an old Allied (IIRC) catalog listing different colored Scotch reels. If you look in the late-1950s/early-1960s catalogs at www.radioshackcatalogs.com you might find them as well.

If I have a scan of the Allied page, I'll dig it up and post it. Seeing the colored reels is even better though. They are very cool (and I've never seen them before "IRL" as they say).
 
mhardy6647 said:
I have an old Allied (IIRC) catalog listing different colored Scotch reels. If you look in the late-1950s/early-1960s catalogs at www.radioshackcatalogs.com you might find them as well.

If I have a scan of the Allied page, I'll dig it up and post it. Seeing the colored reels is even better though. They are very cool (and I've never seen them before "IRL" as they say).
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have had mine for sometime and before that they belonged to a friend of the family who recorded jazz on them while at Colby College in Maine back in the 60's. Of course the music on those reels would have been current at the time as I believe one of them is Brubeck at Carnegie Hall recorded at 7.5 using an Akai built Roberts deck. I used to house sit for him and would spend time listening to jazz on the reel to reel deck (he had a Teac by that time).
 
Those are definitely cool looking. Never thought to look for colored reels, thanks for sharing.
 
I believe the red Scotch Reels were used for all the tapes that were at the Library of Congress, but they may have been available to other services.
 
Hello everyone. Here's what I know about the blue reel at least: The tape formula for the reel I had was "311 Tenzar". It was a black and gold box and had a piece of blue tape on one side of the box, I'm guessing to show the reel color. The look of the tape was also quite interesting as it had closer to a red color/off brown to it, and the edges of the tape almost appeared like a bright metallic pink if you were looking at the tape on the reel or on the machine. The only blue 7" reel I've seen was the one I had. However, I'd run across at least two 5" reels with tape in their boxes in a media room at.a school I went to in the 70s. I've been looking for one of those blue reels to replace the one I had which was stolen from a storage unit, so if anyone has an extra one they'd like to sell... Also, I searched "Scotch 311 Tenzar" and found an ad in Billboard magazine from 1960 advertising the new tape. I've never seen that design in red or yellow until I saw the pictures in this thread, but I could have sworn I saw this design in a smoke color on a machine in a hi-fi store several years ago. It was gone when I returned to ask about it. I've seen the next design of this reel in red, yellow, blue, and smoke color. It was probably made sometime in the 70s with the larger script. I'll upload a picture as I found a blue reel with that design.
 
Several OTE="Old Busted H, post: 4783587, member: 94443"]You sure they're Scotch? I know Capitol/Audiotape did some colored reels (4 holes), but never seen Scotch in anything but clear, smoke, or white.

I saw an eBay auction for an "Audiotape" green 7" reel with 5 cutouts. It was gone when I went back to bid on it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom