Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Mellotronists

Hi everybody!

I'ts the factory again.

There have been postings that I feel need an answer.

First of all: Concerning the post about somebody that unfortunately had to
wait a while for his refund. Unfortunately Dave's not on the list to tell
his part of the story, which would give a far more balanced account of this
one incident. When we started selling the MkVI we pretty quick had a waiting
list, and most people on it were prepared to wait. A small minority were
not, and they were duly refunded. Since we had invested rather heavily in
roller moulds, CNC programs, wooden keyboards, cabinets, storage box jigs,
keyspring jigs etc we unfortunately were not fast enogh in this singular
case. We apologize for that, but the other alternative would have been to
discontine the MKVI or at least too delay delivery significantly for other
customers. I am sure most people on this list appreciate our decision. All
this happened in the early stages of production, and is not a problem
anymore. With well over 30 MKVI delivered we are way beyond the problems of
the start-up phase. Producing Mellotrons in a small company is not an easy
task, but I try because of my love of this instrument ....

Concerning JB:s post:

Of course the Mellotron is an improvement over the Chamberlin Music master,
I was just against the categoric statement about the pure Britishness of the
Mellotron. We know for sure that the Mellotron would have not existed
without the CH Music Master. But it is correct that the Mellotron name
originated from the American Bill Fransen, I just remembered that it didn't
originate from Streetly.

I have never doubted that Leslie and John were reparing old trons in the
early nineties (and of course way before that, that goes without saying).
All I am saying is that I was the only one back then (together with Dave) to
care enoug to make NEW Mellotron tapes, frames, parts and doing development
work for improved products (SMS4 and SMS5).

One thing that most definitely is a "dig" is to call the delivered state of
the MKVI "shoddy". I assume that one of them is the Oasis Mellotron. This
has been an issue before on this list, and I need not elaborate more than
that it was rushed out on their demand, which didn't give me the time to do
all the fine adjustments. I personally offered them to fine tune out later,
but according to them it was "fine", so I left it with that. In my turn I
must ask: What was the serial number of the other MKVI that was fixed?

I must state that all MkVI have been built according to the same basic
operating principle (extra roller row, stiffer padsprings etc), and all
owners that we have talked to are extremely pleased with it. One of the
first ones was bought by Pål Waktaar-Savoy of A-HA. That MKVI was "shoddy"
enough to be used all over the multi-platinum selling album "Minor Earth,
Major Sky" shortly after its delivery in the summer of 1999, and
subsequently on the album "Reasons to Stay Indoors" by his own band Savoy
(some interesting Mello use on that album, Celeste and Electric Harpsicord
btw). Another example is Johnny Mathis wo had his MKVI featured on the
Nelly Furtado single "I'm Like a Bird". Mark Linkous (Sparklehorse) tried a
MKVIon his Stockholm concert and was very thrilled. He had tried many other
400:s both in the US and in Britain, but said that they ended up using the
MA sample CD because the 400:s had been too unreliable. The MK VI on the
other hand was "incredible" to play and sounded "phantastic". There are
numerous other examples.
This is not ment as self-promotion, but was triggered when somebody calls
the machine that I have laboured with for years "shoddy".

One thing which is really getting up my nose is the negative approach
towards the MKVI some people have had from the beginning. If there was a
problem with one of the first MKVI the natural thing would have been to
contact me presonally and inform me in a constructive way, naturally also to
give me a chance to fix it. It is very destructive to do it this way, long
after the incident has taken place. I don't think that the current approach
of the "New Streetly" is the best for the future of this instrument -
something that I care very much about.

One other thing: So far it seems that I can produce better Mellotrons on a
half-time basis than anybody else on a full time basis.

Greetings to all, especially Don (the person who warbled about "fascism"
doesn't know the full meaning of that word)

Markus