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

Jerry Korb came down to Connecticut from up north to present M400 #774, the Orphantron, to its owner, Tom Hughes, author of "Analog Man's Guide to Vintage Effects". Also in attendance were the infamous Ken Leonard, keeper of the kleonard.com Mellotron Symposia and Moneypit website, and master Mellotronist Mike Reynolds.

The Orphantron was non-functional before it arrived at the Mellotron Ranch. It got its name from the fact that the serial number was removed from every part except for a small label inside the cabinet. Details, pictures and videos of the restoration will eventually appear on Ken's website. Stay tuned.

While he was here, Jerry replaced a drive belt, tightened the motor mount and lubed the motor of my M400, #500, which solved a problem I noticed only with fluty sounds, where the uneven drive mechanism was causing a faint warbling sound that was not noticeable with more harmonically-rich sounds.

After playing Tom's M400, the action on my M400 seemed stiff in comparison, so Jerry and Ken coached me in the adjustment of the keyboard action, which I neglected to adjust properly after replacing the pinch rollers a couple of years ago, simply because I didn't know about it. The action is now much softer and faster.

During the event, Jerry and Ken shared a great deal of knowledge and trivia about the inner workings of every model Mellotron. It was an enlightening experience and everyone came away with a lot of new information.

Mike gave an impressive demonstration of his improvisational spider fingering style that left everyone in awe of his Mellotronic playing skills.

We all had a great time, but Tom was getting itchy to return home with his like-new snow-white beauty, so we disbanded and Jerry, Ken, my lovely and tolerant wife and I retired to a local American-"Chinese" buffet that has a Japanese name but is owned by some Fujianese folks, to indulge in some mysterious and exotic cuisine.

The End.

Bernie