Hi Bernie and all,
As far as I know they had them from new. This one I have was orginially white
and hand painted black. I don't have that DVD - who's the keyboard player and
what year is it? Oh and it had no front or back panels - just drawing pins in
the corners I presume to hold some kind of material covering instead. Does this
show on the DVD? Inside the back they had installed an aluminium sheet screwed
to the base of the cabinet that comes up and over the motor. I wondered what
this was for for a while until I realised it must be to stop the material from
getting caught up in the motor!
Best
John
Quoting Bernie Kornowicz <
kornowicz@...>:
> Hi John and All,
>
> On the Strawbs "Live at Chiswick House" DVD, they used a white M400
> and a black M400. Does anyone know the source of these Trons?
>
> Bernie
>
>
> --- In Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com, "John Beresford"
> <j.k.beresford@s...> wrote:
> > Hi all,
> > I'll own up to being the purchaser of the ex-strawbs M400 that
> came
> > up on ebay in may. I had extensive talks with the seller about the
> > condition and history of the unit before I put in my bid. Although
> > the cabinet looked bad at first glance (and the photo on ebay was
> > particularly poor) in reality it just needed the black paint
> sanding
> > off, a few holes filling in, the edges relipping, the base
> > strengthening and a respray. This is nearly all done and it's in
> its
> > undercoat as we speak and coming on nicely. Mechanically and
> > electrically it's fine - a bit stiff through dirt and years of
> > inactivity but it all works well except for some crackly pots. And
> > it has an SMS2 mounted on the power supply case. The Strawbs story
> > is that in 1978 they dumped their 2 trons in a music store in
> > Hitchen UK following their tour of that year. The previous owner
> > bought the newest of the two (1973 model no.992) and has had it
> ever
> > since. The tape frame is M400 violins, MkII brass and 8 choir
> > original tapes and has the original Strawbs label identifying it
> as
> > frame no. 4. I'm trying to confirm this story with John Hawken and
> > Dave Cousins but they are on tour at the moment. I've taken lots
> of
> > pics and I'll post them on the website as restoration progresses.
> >
> > Cheers
> > John
> > M300/005, M400 992
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Mr John Beresford
Divisional Laboratory Manager
University of Sheffield
Division of Clinical Sciences South
DU39, Henry Wellcome Laboratories for Medical Research,
Beech Hill Road,
Sheffield
S10 2RX