The hole was probably cut to facilitate grabbing the flywheel for dramatic pitch bends. A Minimoog or some other object probably sat on top of the Tron, preventing the lid from being opened or removed during a show.
I still have the Unicorn back panel. When I restored the machine and sold it, the new owner didn't want the panel. I have actually been offered a pretty decent price for it, but I like it far too much to sell it.
Before
After
The disc on the side is made of dark gray Lucite, is hinged and can be opened. The back panel is also gray Lucite. The back is transparent, but the disc is not. I made it a nice new set of cheek blocks.
In a message dated 2/13/2012 3:28:10 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, pocotron@yahoo.com writes:
Hi all-Even back when you (Frank) introduced us to the blue meanie I couldn't help wondering why the hole was cut. Did the casehacker want to remove the capstan to facillitate putting all the loops in, and then found out it wouldn't work? Dumber things have been done. Maybe a bent capstan was replaced, and the owner didn't want to remove the machine frame. Still, it's odd.Just an observation; the lower tape guide bar was simply that, a guide to keep the tapes from tangling. It could neve have put tension on the tapes evenly. And, in any case, the tape loops would've had to have been spliced to even length in situ. After that, the lower guide bar could have been adjusted to follow the tapes.Is this the unit that had the unicorn painted on the panel? Whatever happened to that?-Bruce D.From: "lsf5275@aol.com" <lsf5275@aol.com>
To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, February 13, 2012 12:49 AM
Subject: Re: [newmellotrongroup] Re: T550 Mellotron
I have a good feeling that Streetly had nothing to do with this machine. Oddly, I ran into a young musician on Facebook who swears that his father had seen and played that very instrument in some studio in England years ago. The kid had no idea whether it had loops in it or not. But his dad recognized the paint job and the giant hole in the side.In a message dated 2/13/2012 1:42:11 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, unobtainiumkeys@gmail.com writes:Frank:It looks strange.Was this something that Streetly did as a custom job, or did the customer musician hack into it himself?
On Sun, Feb 12, 2012 at 7:06 PM, <lsf5275@aol.com> wrote:
When I first acquired the "Blue Mellotron" it was set up with looped tapes. In the You tube video you can see them. They were crap and I can't imagine what they sounded like, but the guy I acquired it from swore that it worked but he had not tried playing it for years. I had my doubts. I never even tried to get them to work, but I still have the parts in a bin somewhere.In a message dated 2/12/2012 3:07:34 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, nickhewitt235@btinternet.com writes:Chris Dale wrote: "Today, a university music student (who is a big Tangerine Dream fan) asked me what model of Mellotron the Loop Mellotron is on the Tangerine Dream albums.Is it the T550 or was that not made in the 80's?... as a Novatron?? Does anyone know the definitive answer? I asked him to give me a couple of days to find out. The info on the net is far from accurate sometimes.Chris - oddly enough, I've been recently been poking around the 'net, and I found out a little more on the T550 and the mods that TD did in converting a 'tron to take tape loops.Firstly, the T550's were built between 1981 and 1983 and they WERE adapted from Novatrons. Only 3 or 4 were produced and Tangerine Dream bought at least 2 of them.They DID attempt to convert one of their T550's to take a loop of tape, but it wasn't a total success, as the splice could clearly be heard, so TD had to adjust their music to hide it. It has also been stated that TD had a Birotron, which uses tape loops, so there's a possibility it could be that.Hope it all helps.Nick