Everything that Ed and Central said (particularly about alignment), plus:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ed in Tx
And I assume you cleaned it. Sometimes I would have to use a polishing compound on the AC head to get hardened-on gunk off, especially the older linear stereo VCRs would come in with the L channel muffled and barely audible. No freon or alcohol would cut it. Put a bit of automotive polishing compound on the tip of a wet Q tip and gently going back-and-forth in a horizontal motion I would polish the head. Then clean it with alcohol to remove any of the compound. Audio restored. Same can happen with the CTL track especially since it's on the bottom edge of the tape.
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Usually, for those real stubborn cases, iso/rubbing alcohol followed by the usual head cleaner fluid treatment was effective enough in my experiences. I never tried polishing compound but I'll bet that would do great! Wish I could ever have an opportunity to try it!