Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: The Mellotron Group

Unfortunately, they are illegal in parts of California

On 3/1/2011 2:23 PM, Gary Brumm wrote:

 

In California we call these “Presto Logs” and people who can’t start a fire burn them in their fireplace….they will probably

be outlawed soon like everything else here…….

 

From: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com [mailto:newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of lsf5275@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 12:17 PM
To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [newmellotrongroup] Re: Freddy Fender Mellotron

 

 

Modern plywood, as an alternative to natural wood, was invented in the 19th century, but by the end of the 1940s there was not enough lumber around to manufacture plywood affordably. Particleboard was intended to be a replacement. German inventor of particle board was Max Himmelheber. The first commercial piece was produced during World War II at a factory in Bremen, Germany. It used waste material such as planer shavings, offcuts or sawdust, hammer-milled into chips, and bound together with a phenolic resin. Hammer-milling involves smashing material into smaller and smaller pieces until they pass out through a screen. Most other early particleboard manufacturers used similar processes, though often with slightly different resins.

It was found that better strength, appearance and resin economy could be achieved by using more uniform, manufactured chips. Manufacturers began processing solid birch, beech, alder, pine and spruce into consistent chips and flakes. These finer layers were then placed on the outsides of the board, with the central section composed of coarser, cheaper chips. This type of board is known as three-layer particleboard.

More recently, graded-density particleboard has also evolved. It contains particles that gradually become smaller as they get closer to the surface

 

In a message dated 3/1/2011 12:50:03 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, tron400@yahoo.com writes:

 

I was thinking of plywood as solid wood, but of course, it's not. So, when did particle board make its debut?

Bernie

--- In newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com, lsf5275@... wrote:
>
> I don't think they were ever made completely of solid wood. I know that
> most of the Mellotrons I have seen had plywood lids and front and back panels,
> but when I owned 1562, it had front and back panels made of phenolic.
>
>
> In a message dated 3/1/2011 7:47:35 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
> tron400@... writes:
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Frank,
>
> Based on the hoard of M400's you've restored, can you tell at what point
> the cabinets were changed from solid wood to particle board?
>
> Bernie
>
> --- In _newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com_
> (mailto:newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com) , lsf5275@ wrote:
> >
> > Chris,
> >
> > Yeah, here are a few more photos. It all comes down to what it would
> take
> > to make it right. Besides, I want to build a cabinet and modify the Tron
> a
> > bit. It all comes down to its provenance. I won't literally trash the
> > cabinet. I'll just store it away. If you look at the following photos,
> and if you
> > know anything about repairing particle board, you'll see how difficult
> the
> > repairs will be and that the cabinet will forever more be structurally
> > compromised.
> >
> > Frank
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > I believe the Tron fell forward on its "chin" and caused this break. It
> > goes all the way through.
> >
> > It is worse than you can see here.
> >
> > Repairing edges and corners is easy. So is reveneering.
> >
> > As you can see, it is all the way through. You could dig it out, glue
> it,
> > clamp it and then fill it with Bondo, but it would never be strong.
> >
> > Notice the crack in the lower left corner of the photo? That goes all
> the
> > way through as well. You can also see that the corner blocks in the
> bottom
> > are cracked through.
> >
> >
> >
> > The question becomes, "Where do I put my effort?" Can I fix it? Sure,
> and
> > I can make the breaks invisible. But the cabinet would always be weak
> and
> > easily damaged.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > In a message dated 2/28/2011 4:15:42 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
> > fazeka@ writes:
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Hi Frank,
> >
> > I'm only referencing pictures, but the current cabinet doesn't look
> ∗too∗
> > bad. Is there a reason for requiring a new cab?
> >
> > Chris
> >
> > --- In __newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com_
> (mailto:_newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com) _
> > (mailto:_newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com_
> (mailto:newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com) ) , lsf5275@ wrote:
> > >
> > <snip>
> > > I'm going to build it a new cabinet. The plan for now is to build it
> out
> > of
> > > all MDF or a combination of MDF and Baltic Birch plywood.
> >
>