Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Mellotronists

Hey guys,

I've been looking at some pics I was recently given by an old girlfriend from 30+ years
ago, she was a photographer and took tons of photos of me, and all the bands and clubs I
played in with my keyboard & synth rig back in the day.
I
t got me wondering where my old Mellotron 400 is now. I was the original owner, I
bought it from a music store in Virginia Beach, VA when my band was playing there in the
early 1970's, (truth be told, I saw the 400 in that music store and they couldn't sell it to
save their life, so when they saw me coming they knew they had a sucker that they might
be able to pawn the thing off on.)

Since I had no extra cash at the time (I just bought an ARP String Ensemble (one of the first
in New England), a Minimoog and an Ampeg SVT with two 8 - 10" speaker cabinets [yeah,
dumb move to use for synths...a bass amp...what was I thinking???]to go with my
Hammond B3/Leslie 145 & Leslie 900, RMI Electra Piano and Harpsichord 368, Moog
Modular Synthesizer Model 12 and a Jenco Celeste), my mind was working overtime on
what I could hock to get this 400.

The guy in the music store said, "I'll take trade in's if you want to put something towards
the Mellotron"......

So......here it was, my big chance to get rid of the brand new SVT and two cabinets!! Of
course he was VERRRRY interested since he really wanted to dump this 400 off of his floor.
(Not a big market with the Navy guys there for mellotrons, heh)
He agreed to take the SVT but still wanted more cash on top of that so I told him I'd "throw
in" my Leslie 900 (since I still had the Leslie 145 for my B3), if he'd trade me even.

He said "OK." I was dumbstruck. I didn't expect him to go for it. I drove 70 mph back to
the hotel were the band was staying, told my bass player who owned our equipment van,
"gimme the keys now, I don't want this guy to change his mind!"
I raced to the club, loaded up the Ampeg head, speakers, the Leslie 900 and drove way to
fast back to the store.

Clearly he thought he was screwing me and I thought I was screwing him so it was mutual
relief on both of our part when I returned to complete the deal.

I had the 400 for many years and took it with me on a 747 when moved from Boston, MA
to California with it.

Anyway, I worked at a music store in Los Angeles in 1978 while my band was recording in
the studio, trying to get a record deal, etc. and I also taught synthesis privately since I had
a pretty large Polyfusion Modular synthesizer as well as a Minimoog back then.

One of my synth students, who actually ended up being a programming client (she really
didn't want to learn synthesis), so I ended up programming sounds she wanted that she'd
play on audio cassettes to me and I'd program them in her Oberheim OB-X.

I went over to her condo in Hollywood to do some work with her and as we were walking
thru the undeground parking in her building, I saw this huge aluminum anvl case in her
storage area. I asked her was that a Hammond B3? Any road cases I'd ever seen that big
were for Hammonds. She said "no, that's my mellotron."
I'm scratching my head and said, why is the case so big? And why aren't you using it on
stage with your Oberheim, minimoog and Yamaha CP70 electric grand. (I figured if here
roadies were lugging that electric grand, the 400 was tons lighter.)
"My roadies refused to carry it in addition to the electric grand" was her response.
Still not getting it she said "it a two keyboard mellotron, you wanna see it?" Sure, I just
had to know what the hell was in that case!

We lifted the cover off the case and I almost pissed myself, it was a Mark V!!!! I'd only seen
these in the old Sound Sales brochures and once saw one in person at a music store in
Connecticut, but never played one. I'd lusted and drooled all over the brochure I had years
ago with the pics of the Mark V.

Once again, my mind was clicking,how the hell can I get this from her, it's sitting in her
storage space...THAT"S SO WRONG!!!!

She'd seen my 400 at my place and I said, "Hey, why don't we trade 'trons?" "I've got that
nice little LIGHT white 400 that your roadies surely wouldn't mind moving."
She said, "yeah, but mine is a double keyboard and it's worth more." I said I'll trade you
my 400, my RMI Electra Piano and the anvil case for the RMI which was custom built to
hold the RMI and my Hohner Clavinet D6 which I'd already sold." She had a Clavinet but no
case for it.....perfect!

So....that plus more cash than I wanted to part with and she said "OK", but I want you to
buy a road case for your 400 too. (I had the protectomuff cover only). I said "done".

Since I worked at the music store I got an Anvil case for my old 400 and that's how I ended
up with my Mark V serial number 117.

So even though I don't know the serial number of my old 400, it did have two of the old
Mellotron "Union Jack" stickers on it, I put one on the right front lid above the right
keyblock and one on the right rear upper corner (just like the Minimoog labels are placed
on a minimoog).
The other identifying characteristic is that I had added an XLR balanced audio output on
the rear panel to the right of the original 1/4 inch audio output in the center of the 400.

I also used a Dymo Label maker and put black labels on the left keyboard cheek block next
to the track selector that had Strings/Brass/Choir labeled for the tape set with String
Section, Brass and 8 Choir I custom ordered many years earlier from Frank Levi when he
worked at Dallas Arbiter in Mahwah, NJ.

I realize that the stickers and labels could have been removed, but I'm thinking they might
just still be on there. So the last place I knew of it residing was Hollywood, CA.

Sorry for the life story post, but it is all about Mellotrons pretty much, so I hope nobody
minds. Not sure what she did to it/with it, but I kept that thing in perfect shape for many,
many years. It was a really great reliable instrument.

I'll post some pics of the Mark V here if that's ok too.

Regards,

John