Mellotronists

Hi all,

So I have a very nice collection of analog keyboards. A new Moog 
type modular by Synthesizers.com, a Prophet 10, a very choice and 
cherry D6 Clav, ARP 2600 and SE-IV, C3, Oberheim 8 voice, and 
others. So, my next door neighbor sees me humping these things in 
and out of my house from time to time, and the other day comes over 
and mentions he has "an old chord organ" in his basement taking up 
space and I can have it if I want it. So, just to be nice I say I'll 
take a look at it. Mind you, I've been living here for 15 years, and 
we have never said boo to each other (well maybe HI). So he opens up 
the basement door and the smell of musty old mildew reeks out of the 
dark pit before me.

Well he takes me over to this big black thing covered in fungus. 
That's when I realized it was a MUFF CASE. Holy smokes it can't be, 
I say in my head. I pull the thing away from the crap it was piled 
with and remove the straps and low and behold ... a Mellotron M400. 
I had a woody, but remained outwardly indifferent. I said, "...sure 
I'll take it, why not". He said they bought it for their son years 
ago and he blew it up, and its been down there ever since. He helped 
me hump it into my house. Little did I realize just how bad mildew 
smells inside your own house. But hell, its a Mellotron begging for 
a restoration. I can deal with the stink ... I thought.

Well, I'm scrubbing and scrubbing and still the stank is vile. I 
have owned trons in the past so stripping it down to the basic 
components was like getting on a bicycle for me.  More scrubbing! 
The thing is in surprisingly good shape considering. The mechanics 
are fine, the tapes cleaned up well. It came with an extra tape 
frame in the separate case. But the smell was becoming 
uncomfortable, and my sinuses were going into a state of complete 
chaos from the spores. Ack!!!!

So, out of shear desperation I tried something. There is a product 
out there called NON-STOP, which is a stain remover/odor eliminator 
used for pet stains. It is an enzymatic odor eater (literally) used 
to get rid of cat urine smells in kennels. So, I got the stuff and 
sprayed the interior (with everything removed of course) of the 
cabinet, and then the outside of the cabinet. Stink gone!!! Now the 
Muff, of which I am not really sure how to approach cleaning this 
thing, but I will try the NON-STOP and let everyone know how it 
works. I'm sure there are plenty of musty trons out there begging 
for some fresh air also.

So here's the low-down, pads and rollers all there and in very good 
shape considering. CMC-10 though .... Argh! NO sticky keys, thank 
god. Here's the interesting part, the entire tron is covered in a 
white textured vinyl (not paint) and all edges are covered in an 
aluminum trim. I kinda like the look. I posted some photos in the 
photos section on the yahoo-Groups website for this list. But alas, 
the neighbor was right, the thing has a blown power transformer. Now 
the hunt begins!

Ok ... who's got one?

John LeVasseur