M400 #340 Safe on Arrival
2003-07-18 by David Jacques
Well Boys, #340 arrived this morning very safe and secure from its trans-continental journey. Craters and Freighters did an excellent job packing and crating it. Not a bit of damage (Shrink wrap, major foam everywhere, and the crate built around it). However, the folks at Yellow Freight do leave a bit to be desired. They had some yahoo company deliver it to my house in, believe it or not, an open back chicken truck! I am not kidding, they had to remove the fence to slide the palette off the back of the truck... It looked like it came from Green Acres... Some very interesting observations from what I discovered when I unpacked it. First, it was filthy... But after wiping it with a damp rag and a bit of ammonia it cleaned up pretty well. Yes its discolored from age, but most of it cleaned up. Except for a big scratch on the back, it looks fine. They keyboard cleaned up well too. Upon inspecting all the original paperwork (and there is tons of it), it looks as if #340 spent most of its life in a recording studio in Texas. The invoice is for March 14, 1975, and made out to Mr.. Curtis Kirk, Custom Recording Studio, Tyler, Texas. He also bought 1 set of standard Mellotron tapes. In 1981 Mr.. Kirk purchased 1 set of "special tapes" (1 track special). I have those on red spools and am waiting to see what they are. Along with the red spools is one master on a large wheel. hmmmmm.... Maybe it's John Lennon's secret tapes... The best news (I think), is that in 1978 he purchased and installed the SMS 3 kit. So I could not resist. I plugged it in, hooked it up to an amp, and tested her..... She WORKS!!!! All keys and tapes work and rewind. The installed tapes have choir, cello, and three violins. WOW!!!!!! OK, some major wobblies on certain notes as I am sure the heads need cleaning and the keyboard needs some adjustment, but what a thrill! Maybe its in better shape than I expected... The foot pedal has some noise in it, but what do you expect? Also, the track selector switch is a bit funky as it overshoots the stops, but that is probably a simple adjustment. I will check that out this week. So now I am officially a Mellotroniac! David Jacques M400 #340......
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-----Original Message----- From: Jerry Korb [mailto:jkorb@...] Sent: Wednesday, July 16, 2003 12:11 PM To: David Jacques Subject: Re: M400 #340 about to arrive very soon David Jacques wrote: Wow, that must have been some job! _______________________________________________________________ Hi David, Yep, it was. I borrowed technology for repairing fiberglass hulls on pleasure boats. Made a compound of 2-part epoxy and sawdust to fill chunks of broken particle-board on the bottom. After sanding and veneering,looked fine. _______________________________________________________________ So you had your M400 since new. Nice.... ________________________________________________________________________ July 1973 it arrived. This month it's been exactly 30 years since I've owned it. Cost $1760 plus $200 air cargo at that time. Arrived directly from Mellotronics in London. I was only age 19 then,and worked two full summers in warehouse to afford it. _______________________________________________________________ Jamie and I are discussing which motor controller to purchase. Is the Streetly easy to install? I am not as handy as someone like you, but can handle simple jobs with tools. ________________________________________________________________________ Very simple. You must have a basic understanding of electronics and some soldering skills. Everything's marked/detailed with typed instructions. John Bradley and I went thru the procedure in 1997 to make it "idiot-proof." _______________________________________________________________ I am also interested in how this extra set of tapes sound. I don't even know what is on them. Is there a simple way of stringing them onto a frame? I read about the method of splicing the beginning of the new tape onto the end of the old tape and pulling it through the mechanism. Is this the best way?David ________________________________________________________________________ Easy. Each tape will have a dash line which is placed directly over the corresponding tape-head. Numbered 1 to 35 (Low-G to High F) . If the machine has an extra tape frame,you're all set. If not, you can "test" to see what sounds are on the spools. I can explain this to you more easily when the machine is in front of you, and ready to check out. One tape from tape frame can be removed and secured with masking tape. This leaves a tape head open. Thread a section of tape from the spool and secure it to the rear of machine (loosen two tape screws first). Then play a note,letting the spool unwind holding with pencil. Then retract the spool/tape by hand to try again. As mentioned,this will sound crystal-clear when the M400 is in front of you. Regards, Jerry Korb