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

Hi Guys,
A few years ago I acquired the Strawbs old M400. It was in a bit of a mess shall we say. The electro-mechanicals needed a really good clean up and complete re-adjustment but everything was there. The cabinet however needed a new floor, the bottom corners had come apart and so it was bolted together with huge aluminium angles, it had some quite big holes drilled in it, the front and back panels had gone (the back was covered with black material on stage) and it had been very badly painted black with a brush (like a sweeping brush!). Oh and the control panel was really badly scratched.
So....I renovated it back to pristine white again having done all the necessary repairs and I gave it a new control panel. I took photos of it at various stages and then got Dave Cousins and John Hawken to authenticate it.
Now I'm thinking of selling it and I'm wondering did I do the right thing? Should I have left the cabinet as it was? Should I have repainted in black but with a good finish? Sould I have left the old control panel on (although I think I've still got it somewhere)?

What do you guys think...would you prefer something that showed the life it had even though it was a mess or something that has the provenance but has been renovated back to it's former glory?

cheers
John