The Mellotron Group

The hole was probably cut to facilitate grabbing the flywheel for dramatic  
pitch bends. A Minimoog or some other object probably sat on top of the 
Tron,  preventing the lid from being opened or removed during a show. 
 
I still have the Unicorn back panel. When I restored the machine and sold  
it, the new owner didn't want the panel. I have actually been offered a 
pretty  decent price for it, but I like it far too much to sell it.
 
Before

 

 
After


 
The disc on the side is made of dark gray Lucite, is hinged and can be  
opened. The back panel is also gray Lucite. The back is transparent, but the  
disc is not. I made it a nice new set of cheek blocks.
 
 
 
In a message dated 2/13/2012 3:28:10 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
pocotron@yahoo.com writes:




Hi all-
   Even back when you (Frank) introduced us to the  blue meanie I couldn't 
help wondering why the hole was cut.   Did the casehacker want to remove the 
capstan to facillitate putting all the  loops in, and then found out it 
wouldn't work?  Dumber things have been  done.  Maybe a bent capstan was 
replaced, and the owner didn't  want to remove the machine frame.  Still, it's odd.
   Just an observation; the lower tape guide bar was  simply that, a guide 
to keep the tapes from tangling.  It could neve have  put tension on the 
tapes evenly.  And, in any case, the tape loops  would've had to have been 
spliced to even length in situ.  After  that, the lower guide bar could have 
been adjusted to follow the  tapes.
 
   Is this the unit that had the unicorn painted on the  panel?  Whatever 
happened to that?
 
   -Bruce D.
 



 
 

From: "lsf5275@aol.com"  <lsf5275@aol.com>
To:  newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com 
Sent: Monday, February 13, 2012 12:49  AM
Subject: Re:  [newmellotrongroup] Re: T550 Mellotron



 
I have a good feeling that Streetly had nothing to do with this machine.  
Oddly, I ran into a young musician on Facebook who swears that his father had 
 seen and played that very instrument in some studio in England years ago. 
The  kid had no idea whether it had loops in it or not. But his dad 
recognized the  paint job and the giant hole in the side.
 
 
In a message dated 2/13/2012 1:42:11 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
unobtainiumkeys@gmail.com writes:

 
 
Frank:
 
 
It looks strange.
 
Was this something that Streetly did as a custom job, or did the  customer 
musician hack into it himself?
 



On Sun, Feb 12, 2012 at 7:06 PM, <_lsf5275@aol.com_ 
(mailto:lsf5275@aol.com) > wrote:


When I first acquired the "Blue Mellotron" it was set up with looped  
tapes. In the You tube video you can see them. They were crap and I can't  
imagine what they sounded like, but the guy I acquired it from swore that  it 
worked but he had not tried playing it for years. I had my doubts. I  never even 
tried to get them to work, but I still have the parts in a bin  somewhere.
 

 
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 2/12/2012 3:07:34 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, 
_nickhewitt235@btinternet.com_ (mailto:nickhewitt235@btinternet.com)   writes:


 
 
 

Chris Dale wrote: "Today, a university music student (who is a big  
Tangerine Dream fan) asked me what model of Mellotron the Loop Mellotron  is on the 
Tangerine Dream albums.
Is it the T550 or was that not made in the 80's?... as a Novatron??  Does 
anyone know the definitive answer? I asked him to give me a couple  of days 
to find out. The info on the net is far from accurate  sometimes.
Chris - oddly enough, I've been  recently been poking around the 'net, and 
I found out a little more on  the T550 and the mods that TD did in 
converting a 'tron to take tape  loops.
Firstly, the T550's were built  between 1981 and 1983 and they WERE adapted 
from Novatrons.  Only 3  or 4 were produced and Tangerine Dream bought at 
least 2 of  them.
They DID attempt to convert one  of their T550's to take a loop of tape, 
but it wasn't a total success,  as the splice could clearly be heard, so TD 
had to adjust their music to  hide it. It has also been stated that TD had a 
Birotron, which uses tape  loops, so there's a possibility it could be that.

Hope it all  helps.
Nick