Mellotronists

kinchmusic@... wrote:

> On the subject of Serial numbers. Isn't it about time that there was 
> definitive Web based register of where all surviving trons can be 
> registered?
> Andy K
> EMI m400 # E4/1405
> 

Waking up from a long sleep.....
Speaking of serial numbers, Andy are you sure that your last digits a 5 
and not the letter S?  I'm pretty sure the format for the serial numbers 
of the EMI Trons is   E4/XXXS.  Most of the numbers I've seen looked 
like that. However someone here with an EMI Tron (I can't remember who) 
posts a serial number with a completely different format.  Anyone know 
when these trons were made?  I got mine in 1973 from DMI in Mahwah just 
before they closed, as a trade for my M400 #295 which was a dog and 
never worked.  It was a floor model that I bought from Rondo Music in 
Union, NJ in 1972 for $2500.  I thought I was getting a good deal.  I 
was 20 and had mellotron fever. What did I know?  (Actually, today it 
would be a good deal because we have this network to handle these 
problems, back then no one could fix it and they weren't sending it back 
to Streetly.)

That last time that I was at DMI, there was in a corner of the warehouse 
a pile, about 8 feet high of junked Mellotrons.  I saw twisted bodys 
with feet sticking out, mangled keyboards and aluminum frames. There 
were tape return boxes and bent up tape frames and all kinds of 
mellotron innards and at the top of the heap sat my #295!  I wonder 
exactly how many mellotrons were lost in that pile?

Dave Shapiro
EMI m400 # E4/169S.....been to Streetly