Now that I've got your attention...
After seeing a fun little video clip on the web site of Mike Keneally
playing at the "Museum of Making Music's" fifth anniversary, I decided
to pay this museum a visit last weekend since I was in the area
visiting (Carlsbad, CA [USA]). I hoped but didn't think I'd actually
see a 'tron inside, but low and behold, they had an M400 that had been
cut in half, supposedly by original owner, (as the tour guide explained
it) Karen Carpenter! He said she cut it in half so that she could fit
it in the trunk of her car. As the story goes, she "toured" with it
for awhile and eventually decided she didn't need it (or it didn't need
her) so she took it back to the store where she bought it and asked
what they'd give her for it. He says the told her they'd give her half
of her money back, since she only brought half of the mellotron back.
(This might have only been a retired volunteer's dry attempt at humor.)
I had my camera phone with me so I took a picture of the plaque, but
unfortunately didn't think to take a picture of the full tron (what's
left of it). But according to the plaque, after the Carpenters ditched
it, it was sold to Michael Lloyd, a studio musician, who used it on
tracks by The Monkeys, the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, Belinda Carlisle
and Donny and Marie Osmond tune. This tron truly has been through
hell.
In case you want to visit:
http://www.museumofmakingmusic.org/(and get a better picture!)
JimA/m400#680