Dear All,
Any comments from the Chamberlin experts on the list?
Norm
In a message dated 21/02/2007 04:01:57 GMT Standard Time, egdon@... writes:
> Hi Norm
>
> I was checking out your site and wondered if you might be able to point me
> in the right direction.
>
> I have what I think is a Chamberlin Music Master Model 600 or 660. I've
> had it for probably about 20 years. I'm pretty sure it does not have a
> serial number plate, but it does have a date stamped on some of the keys
> [I think it was Aug 1965].
>
> The guy I got it from told me a few things about it, but that's really all
> I have to go on. It was not well taken care of - had a lot of junk in the
> back when I first got it [like spider eggs], and by looking at them I
> think at least some of the cabinet sides has either been replaced or
> stripped of their covering and painted. Definitely needs some work in
> that area, but I think it was an instrument that saw a lot of time on the
> road. He said that it toured with Godspell in the early 70's, and that it
> was the "original Mellotron", that it was actually before the Mellotron,
> which is what makes me think it is a 600 or 660. Not sure what the
> difference was between those two anyway.
>
> He also said it originally had pedals - it does not have pedals now. He
> gave me some pedals with it, but they don't look quite like the pedals
> I've seen in pictures. It has two keyboards, with the row of 6 LEDs above
> each and the two selector 'levers' between the keyboards. Each side has 6
> banks of sounds, making 36 sounds total, counting the two keyboards and
> the 3 positions on the selectors.
>
> The motors that roll up to the next bank are not connected, so I would
> roll them up manually with the chain. He told me that the switches would
> roll the chains up to the next bank, where a trip switch would stop it at
> the right spot. In fact, not much is actually connected in it, except
> that it did work well - I used to play it quite a bit, and adjusted the
> whole thing many times, mostly after moving to a new apartment. The
> sounds were great, but it always needed some kind of tweaking. It has a
> 1/4" out for plugging into a board or amp. The belt finally snapped one
> day, and at the time I could not find anyone with belts for it in NY. I
> have not played it since then - many years. It has been sitting in my
> basement for 8+ years. I would have to give it a good bit of work at this
> stage, even with parts readily available, but I am sure it is still
> essentially playable.
>
> The reason I am not sure what model it is, is that it doesn't look
> ∗exactly∗ like any of the pictures I have seen on the web. It has volume
> knobs, but they aren't in the same location as they are in the photos I've
> seen. Also, pretty sure there are only two knobs, and I always assumes
> that the third one in photos was for the pedals, so who knows what model
> it really is, or what has been done to it over the years.
>
> Very long story short - do you have any idea what would be a good next
> step in finding out what I have?
>
> Thanks
>
egdon