Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Mellotronists

Hey everyone! Glad to be the newest member of this "elite"
community! Have owned M-400 #1485 since 1977, & it's figured
prominently in my music (at the time esp., very Yes- & Genesis-
influenced, as well as Beatles, Crimson and others...). Suffice it to
say, since '77 it's been a huge boon to my music career. I should
add, I made the SMS3 conversion, etc, and being a VERY clean machine,
it's operated beautifully with only routine maintenance. Learned to
clean motor brushes, etc.
Sadly, in my mainstay scoring work, the advent of MIDI equipment,
sequencing & mixing direct to digital recorders, bypassing tape
altogether, made using the Mellotron a rarity. Periodically I'd fire
it up just to make sure it stayed lubricated, etc, and it always
delivered the thrill of playing what's a truly wondrous instrument
even to this day.
More recently, getting back into live performance as a guitarist,
I've wanted to get that M-puppy back into circulation, and found the
motor VERY sluggish. Soon stalled altogether, and while trying to
encourage the capstan to turn, I began smelling an electrical
burning, and of course, killed the power immediately. Examining the
motor, I found a couple of resistors (I believe… they're pretty
fried!) attached to it that had burned. I have the original owner's
manual w schematics, the old CMC-10 board & other docs, but can't
seem to locate `em at the moment. Do any of you have such experience
with your instruments, and/or have any ideas how to proceed to un-
stick the motor, replace the burnt parts, and restore my once-happy
baby to its previous state? Or is there anyone in the L.A. area I
might talk with? I'd appreciate any suggestions! Thanks muchly in
advance! ~B.
P.S. – A photo of #1485 appears on my MySpace site under "View my
pics" at www.myspace.com/berington.