Mellotronists

Thanks to everybody for your kind comments about my search for that ugly little red and white Ace Tone organ. In answer to questions that I received both on and off-list, I went to the time, trouble, and expense of finding it, because it was a direct step in my becoming a performing musician, and I wanted to finally own that souvenir of my earliest days testing the waters of playing in a rock band. The organ probably still won't get played as much as it should, but it is a tangible connection to the time of my life when I was trying to figure out who I was and what I wanted to do when I grew up. Turns out I made the right choice and it has made me very happy over the intervening years. As to how I tracked it down? At that time, I lived in a very small town in upstate New York, and the instrument was originally purchased by - my orthodontist, who was a prominent member of the community. You see, he helped his son, the bassist, acquire the gear he needed to follow his own dream of being a musician, and this organ was part of that assistance. I simply contacted family members, told them who I was and what I was doing, and in a matter of a few weeks I had found that the organ still existed and was actually still in possession of somebody in the family. They had stored it in their home for years and were actually happy to get rid of it - for way more than it was worth...