Great story, Martin… and thanks…
Watching King Crimson Mark I play for twodays of that festival certainly changed my musical life. As a 14 year oldhearing real progressive rock with a Mellotron was certainly inspirational.Ever since sitting in the rain that cold Friday night I have been enamored withthe history of that band….
When I saw the pictures of the Crimsontrons on the web I could not believe how they could be in such disastrousshape. Such history… I am glad that the Poseidon tron is safe with youguys.
DJ
From: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com [mailto: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com ] On Behalf Of tronbros@aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 11:53AM
To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [newmellotrongroup]King Crimson - Trons
Okay Dave, you asked nicely!
Both MKIIs had been stored in a removalcompany's lockup and were covered head to toe in black, sticky dieseldust. They were unbelievably rough. Bearing in mind that these werethe first restorations for John and myself and I had no knowledge whatsoever ofprocedures. I couldn't even take the keyboards off and so I was givenvery menial tasks and rightly so. John stripped them down to thecomponents and built them back up, cleaning everything prior toreassembly. Not polishing and gleaming, just removing the years offilth. Luckily the tapes had been cycled to safe positions where themajority was spooled and clean. Just the hanging loops needed the alcoholtreatment. I think John may have had to strengthen the cabinetsbut this was in 1990 and a long time ago. Anyway, they worked and wetook the CK MKII down to Real World for the recording of Thrak along withRoberts M400s. They were in a semi circle in the control room and theyworked a treat but got little use sadly. The Wake of P. MKII has beenwith us ever since and now needs restoring again along with the M400s. Sad considering the time and effort and little money earned. That's notRobert's fault, we just undercharged enormously in those naive days. Itwas a hobby and we were working on the Crimso 'trons. What a fix!
Best,
Martin
Streetly Electronics - All Things Mellotronic![](\"cid:image002.jpg@01C8E0ED.CF6BAB30\")
www.mellotronics.com
US Sales East: Jimmy MooreJMoore6397@aol.com
US Sales West: Paul Cox pjc56@earthlink.