The best head cleaner isn't tape or solvent

[retrogear]

This is a little info-commercial of my best kept secret of the 80's. We would get VCR's in our shop from customers or even other shops who said they tried cleaning the heads but still no video. The thing that clogs the heads the most is not oxide but food. Because of the spinning heads it gets burned into a goo that nothing would remove except ... a thumbnail. I would make a fist with my hand and the thumb sticking out. I would rest my hand and bring my thumbnail vertically to the head until it touches. Then with the other hand, rotate the drum back and forth to just work the nail back and forth across the head surface, not moving my thumb at all. Any vertical movement would crack the head. I got video back 99% of the time. Those were the days ...

Larry G