Compliant guide assembly for a magnetic tape transport

A compliant guide assembly in a tape transport provides a precisely calibrated biasing force to an edge of a magnetic tape to precisely position tile tape with respect to a read/write head. The compliant guide assembly includes a plurality of guide buttons and a spring assembly having a plurality of cantilever spring elements. Each guide button includes an elongated stem and a head. The stem of each guide button is fixedly attached to a distal end of one of the cantilever spring elements such that the head of each guide button is disposed a calibrated distance from the distal end of the spring element. The biasing force is exerted on each spring element with a predetermined force. This force varies the distance between each spring element and its corresponding guide button and maintains these distances while each guide button is attached to its corresponding spring element.