On Nov 6, 2009, at 8:06 PM, callioperecords wrote:
hi im a touring mellotronist thats curious as to how everyone out there maintains their lovely instruments while gigging. I am currently on a national tour opening for Roger Daltrey and on my down time like to dive into the cabinet of my 400 to give it a tune up. Any hints, tips, or special recommendations? thanks everyone!
I toured with a MkII back in the '70s, a challenging task, but it never failed me. Like most instruments, mellotrons need maintenance, and unfortunately, most keyboard players forget stuff like that! The most important thing is that any time any mellotron's been moved, you have to check that every tape is hanging properly BEFORE you turn it on. You're asking for trouble if you forget this. Ninety-nine percent of the time, nothing's wrong, but it's one time you don't check that will bite you in the ass.
The other to remember is to clean and demagnetize the heads every week or so when you're playing a lot. And it's a good idea to get the tape frame far away (like "the other side of the room" far away) when you have the demagnetizer on. If you remove the head block, make sure you short across the plug to be certain it hasn't magnetized the heads accidentally.
Oh yeah, and make sure no one drops your mellotron! They don't like that very much...
Best of luck!
Rick