Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Mellotronists

I was telling a buddy today about the inner workings of the MK2 and
he asked me a question I didn't know the answer to...since there were
2 speakers on each side of the tapes in close proximity to them what
kept the magnets of the speakers from erasing the tapes?(even
gradually over time)

This is a good question.  I think it's because the magnets are ∗at least∗ far enough away from the closest tapes so that they receive no damage.  I know that the magnets pose a significant risk to those close tapes when changing the tapes.  When I changed mine on MKII #247, I was warned about the tendency of loose tapes "diving" to the speaker magnet if given a chance, and this does erase them.  So, when I changed my tapes, I used a towel and a plastic bowl over the speaker magnet on each side, as shown on my web site.  But as far as tape erasure from normal use, I would say  that it's not a problem by design, although it looks like it would be.

http://www.tronsounds.com/mkii_tape_chang_prob.htm

Ken M.