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Subject: Re: [newmellotrongroup] Price of Mellotron in 1972

From: Chris Dale <unobtainiumkeys@gmail.com>
Date: 2010-06-16

Hi Gary:
 
Well I believe it but only to a certain point.
 
A band like Chicago, Fleetwood Mac or Mahogany Rush may have used it in the studio or rented one for live use, but it wasn't essential to their sound then and isn't today - so of course they don't bother. Those are the type of musicians I'm generally referring to.
Or if they owned them - they only owned them for a short while and sold them. Studios and producers had more interest and more money for them as they did Neumann microphones, Fairchild compressors etc..
 
I met the keyboardist for Il Balletto Di Bronzo recently and he told me that although the Mellotron is prominent on their album, he never actually owned it and just used the Mellotron in a studio. Ditto the guys from Osanna.
 
 
The musicians you mention - Banks, Wakeman, Fripp, Pinder etc are more the exception than the rule because they liked the sound and it was a larger and integral part of the music that they had to have it with them.
 
And they generally still had to have record company money to buy them because they were only just starting to make money in those days. Nobody was instantly rich enough to buy one.
For example King Crimson's first Mellotron was purchased by Ian McDonald's uncle. Pinder got his because he knew of one for cheap.
 
These guys later bought mutiple machines to have as backups, but you can be sure their record company advances helped pay for those.
 
And with there only being about 2000 of these made, it was never going to be available to everyone even if the cost was cheaper.
 
 
Mellotrons were relegated to psychedelia and progressive rock for the most part. The 'unreliability' label and push to embrace the latest things lessened the interest in Mellotrons.
 
As far as Chamberlins go, you can hear them on a lot more 60's and 70's top 40 songs than you can in prog rock. And you generally had to wait for your Chamberlin to be built. Recording studios got first pick with those because they had all the money upfront. Someone like Olivia Newton John (who didn't want the female voices louder than hers because she was afraid of being shown up) wasn't going to buy one of those machines.
 
 
You're right about Hammonds / Leslies - those are as common as pennies by comparison, but also the Hammond and Leslie has been used to make music since the 1930's and spans many genres, so there's a lot more of them around, and a lot more knowledge of them. 


 
On Tue, Jun 15, 2010 at 11:06 PM, Gary Brumm <gabru@comsec.net> wrote:
 

Come on Chris, you don’t really believe that do you.  Seriously….many the people who made the instrument famous could afford

a boatload of these things IF THEY WANTED THEM…..THEY DON’T!  Tony Banks, Robert Fripp, Rick Wakeman, ect. can afford

any instruments they want….they chose to replace the Mellotrons and never looked back.  Most are on record of “hating those damn things”.

There is still a very limited market of collectors and musicians but you are more likely to see one on stage with a lower budget act “showing it off”

than headlining talent with the budget for several as spares.  They are a fascinating piece of musical history and I loved the sound the first time I heard it so don’t get me wrong….I appreciate it for what it is and was.  Musicians are much more likely to carry around the much heavier Hammond/Leslie combo than a tron and many still do….and the cost of the equipment is about the same or more in some cases.  A B3/Leslie is also standard equipment in many more studios than a tron.  I’m not trying to start a flame war but I’ve been around this stuff since the early 70’s (ok late 60’s J) as I am sure many of you on this list have been so I am speaking only from my experiences and YMMV J…

Cheers!



Studio ownership of Mellotrons also explains why many bands that used the Mellotron back then don't use them now - they never owned them to begin with.




On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 12:47 AM, John Wright <john.wright@consona.com> wrote:

 

 

Wonder how one could afford a Tron then.  Did studios buy them and lease them?

 

John

#911

 

From: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com [mailto:newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of partune
Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 10:34 AM
To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [newmellotrongroup] Price of Mellotron in 1972

 

Seeing all the posts about the price of the Tron on eBay, I've a copy of a letter I received in 1972 from DMI quoting a price on a new M400 as $3,500.00.

Regards,
partune