I bet that's a relief! Sometimes if you play old tapes like me, a bit of adhesive from either a sensing foil or splicing tape will stick to the roller or farther down the line. I've even had a bit of cake or some sticky food that was preserved in the tape wrap fall out onto my desk top. Still tasted fine! Just kidding, but I did look at it under a magnifier and it looked like bread or something.
Actually, when I first read this post, I thought it was the phantom ticking that sometimes comes from my reversing roller. You can just barely hear it and it goes away pretty fast. I suspect that my ticking comes from a wear spot on the felt washer that's in there to dampen the spider-spring that pushes the inner section out. But like I said, it goes away after a while.
Well, good deal Xavier,.. I know how that goes, I always think the worse.