Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Mellotronists

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick Blechta" <rick@...>
To: "Mellotronist's List List" <Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 23, 2005 2:29 AM
Subject: [Mellotronists] Keyboard Players



Rick/all

> Why do keyboardists like Mssr. Orford think they are any different? If
> I were using my mellotron constantly, especially if I were touring, I
> would have it in to Streetly at least once every year, not because it
> was especially in need of repair, but because I would want to know that
> everything was working the way it should. Same as I would with a piano.
>
> Orford is an arse.

FWIW, Martin Orford is actually quite a nice guy - he just isn't very
interested in a sound's 'authenticity'. Make that 'at all interested'. The
only thing I have to say in his defence is that he was touring an M400
heavily in the early to mid '80s. Now, I don't know about anyone else here,
but when I bought #1145, late in 1985, I didn't have the first idea where I
could take it to get it playable again. I now know that Les ran Streetly
until the following year, but I'd never heard of him, and had no way of
finding out who or where he was. Pre-Internet, my only sources of
information for companies outside London were ads in music mags, and I
rather doubt that Streetly were still advertising at that late stage. My
machine was left at a notable London keyboard repairer's for a good year,
from where I eventually picked it up in the same state as when I took it
there.Of course, I hadn't heard of Dave Kean either, and was finally put
onto Martin in '93 by a mutual friend (thanks, Dave!), since when it's cost
me a fortune. :-)

All of which adds up to: the chances are, Martin Orford didn't know where to
take it for maintenance, and probably had little idea of how to perform it
himself. The first time I spoke to him about it ('93-ish), in answer to the
question "Why did you stop touring it?", he replied, "It was the night I
found a single roadie bumping it down a flight of concrete steps on his
own". I was lucky enough to see IQ several times during their brief 'Tron
years - I don't remember it going wrong at any gig I was at, although
thinking about it, I think they only toured it between about '83 and '85.
Martin also told me that story about having to go back to overdub whichever
key didn't work properly by pitch-shifting on the 'Tron, although it seemed
to work well enough live.

Its current owner, Clive 'Fat Boy' Nolan doesn't use it live.The last time I
saw Arena (thankfully some years ago), the only interesting bit of kit in
his rig was a MiniMoog, which I reckon he probably used for around 30
seconds in total. Now, I've moaned about my Mini's tuning instability here
before, but I've got a guitar tuner in line between Mini and mixer, which
cuts off the signal while you tune it. Problem not entirely solved, but
certainly improved dramatically.

Nolan is an arse.

Andy T.
M400 #1145.