Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Mellotronists

1) Do you use your mellotrons regularly?
2) If so, what measures do you take to protect your tapes from decay
(i.e. shedding oxide, temp and humidity issues, etc.)
3) What can be done to prevent "stretching" of the tapes due to age,
overuse, etc...?

One other thing.  The tapes are going to die eventually.  There are things you can do to try to put that time off.  The biggest is the environment.  Don't leave your tapes out in the garage or down in the basement.  The heat / huimidity will take its toll.  Keep your tapes and machine in a nice air conditioned environment.  Rough treatment will also hurt the tapes.  My prized "BBS" tape set was shipped inside my M400.  At some point during shipment, someone decided to turn the flight case upside down, and part of the frame containing this tape set came loose and started flapping around inside the case.  When I opened the case, there was oxide all over the place.  That set still sounds good, but I'm afraid that it will never be like it was.

That's why it's great that Martin and others are still making the tapes.  We'd really be screwed if we couldn't get new tape sets anymore.  We can get completely new tapes with the original sounds or brand new sounds which were never available before.  So, things aren't as bad as they seem.


Ken M