Mellotronists

>If I were *either*
>of the Mellotron suppliers, I would be buying as much
>of the newer, high quality tape that I could get my
>hands on and engineer the machines and repairs to just
>DEAL with it.

Easier said than done.  Newer tape stock is thinner and has a different 
formulation on the drive side that doesn't drive as well as the old 
stuff.  Our tape providers have experimented with different stock, and I 
have some from a few years back that's not really playable because of the 
formulation (the stock in question is no longer used for obvious reasons).

Pierre V. did an experiment once where he put something on the capstan (or 
was it the pinch rollers?) that gave much more grip, but he snapped a few 
tapes when they got to the end.  :-)  So it's a balancing act.

For the pinch rollers I tend to take off the edges and scuff them with 
emery cloth, clean them, and apply CAIG rubber rejuvenator.  Does it 
work?  Pah!  Some stock still sucks.  That EMI stock is no problem, and 
I've even had mostly good luck with the Ampex 456 sets I have.

Martin turns his pinch rollers into tyres (tires for us American types :-) 
) by really rounding off the edges.  They look like what' you'd see on a 
motorcycle when done.

But maybe it's not the pinch rollers but some other part of the machine 
that could use adjustment in order to better drive the tapes.  Keep in mind 
that there's constant back tension on the tape due to the return 
spring---that doesn't help.

Markus/Martin:  Are you looking into the designs of your machines to drive 
the newer tape formulations?  It sounds like there is general satisfaction 
with the way available tape stock is running, so there's no real need for a 
redesign.

>I'm not interested in buying antiquated
>tapes at 250.00 a set.

The tapes from the 70s do hold up really well, strangely enough.  I've seen 
enough sets of them.  The set that I got in the Mouseotron would have been 
fine except for the mouse goo all over them (and 2 tapes being spliced with 
masking tape).  I bet I could still clean them up and get them to play OK.

I never liked "planned obsolescence", as the Quantegy people have foisted 
on their customers (reportedly) to make more money when they have to rework 
archive tapes.  But it is understandable that tape has a shelf life and 
will eventually go downhill, just like anything else.

...kl...
M400 #805 - kl is going downhill
M400 #1037 - ...and is largely obsolete