Interesting clues, Martin. Mellotron history 101.
The lettering on my set is bold, but not too squashed (my interpretation). The lettering can also be scraped or rubbed off easily (like a wax pencil?). Then again, some felt marker inks stay on the surface too. The ;adjacent tracks blend very well. The tapes are dark shiny gray on both sides. And, there is a little aluminum tag under the front left drawbar bolt that has "BB" scratched into it.
Another point- My tapes have punch holes evident at some of the cuts(before the back drawbar). Were the punch holes used from the beginning to mark the cut points?
Thanks,
-Bruce Daily
--- On Wed, 3/4/09, tronbros@aol.com wrote:
From: tronbros@aol.com
Subject: Re: [newmellotrongroup] M400S on e-Bay
To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wednesday, March 4, 2009, 1:13 AM
In a message dated 04/03/2009 05:58:04 GMT Standard Time, pocotron@yahoo. com writes:The tape set that came with my 'tron is marked "BBS" on each key, and is really worn, so it its quite possibly an original set.If the 'BBS' marking is in bold felt tip squashed capitals then they are probably London produced tapes which were always out of azimuth! You can check this for certain as they have a drop out zone between tracks whereas Streetly tapes blended at a constant volume, as do ours now. The wrong azimuth gave them a nasal quality that some love.Best,MStreetly Electronics - All Things Mellotronic
www.mellotronics. com
US Sales East: Jimmy Moore JMoore6397@aol. com
US Sales West: Paul Cox pjc56@earthlink