Abstract: The tape guidance system includes at least three tape guidance surfaces, each of the tape guidance surfaces having at least one enlarged shoulder extending from the tape guidance surface toward the tape to bear upon an edge of the tape and provide a confinement force parallel to the plane of the tape in a direction transverse to the direction of the tape motion. Two adjacent tape guide surfaces have a close tolerance guide, with a distance between the shoulders being equal to or slightly greater than the width of the tape. The third tape guidance surface has a wide clearance such that if the tape is to contact the shoulder of the third guide, it must deviate from a straight line path. The tape has a tendency toward the shoulder of the third guide as a function of the perpendicularity of the tape guide to the plane of the tape. The tape path is such that if a tape is to contact the shoudler of the third guide it must contact alternature surfaces of the other two guides.