Mellotronists

<< I may end up with it only when the estates of these 
two guys are settled!!  By that time, 574 will resemble the 
carpet-tron after the foam has completely encrusted the cabinet! >>

yikes! I have some familiarity with this substance- thankfully, foam doesn't 
appear to have been on willi studer's list of prescribed substances and so my 
growing collection of a77's (& other revoxy bits) is gunk-free. the only 
place I've encountered this stuff lately was in our guitarist's ancient mxr 
distortion+ fuzzbox. it can carry enough rust, this former-foam, to be quite 
dangerous inside things.... but this particular mxr is demonstrably 
indestructible (gary has had it since late '79, after all, so it is the 
captain scarlet of stompboxes).

but you will prevail. shame on them for procrastinating while you're 
'tron-less. you ought to point out that the thing is getting worse, not 
better, by being rested like this, and embarrass them into allowing it a new 
home. 

anyway. I expect you're all wondering if I broke my record (no- more in a 
mo') and what the new standard salley/streetly tapeset is like.
well.
now I remember what one needs around one when changing tapes on an existing 
frame- it's been a while and I had forgotten a few things:-
*plenty of light and space around the machine.
*something to put the little red spool on that allows it to turn freely 
without dumping tape on the floor, and feed the tape in from over y'r 
shoulder.
*a revox (or similar) is useful, with a NAB spool with one flange removed- 
this is to put the old tapeset onto, for storage. you can put the other 
flange back loosely and fit the reel into it's box afterwards. martin wants 
the little red spools back, y'see.
*a screwdriver that exactly fits the tape-end bolts. don't use one that 
nearly fits, it's frustrating when you get the fugue thing going. de-magged, 
naturally.
*decent scissors or sharp-with-handle, ditto on the lack of gauss.
*splicing tape, 1/4".... try to get a pack of the precut stuff (I couldn't 
find mine and had to use a normal roll, hence no world or olympic records; 90 
minutes this time).

with the keyboard out and the frame fitted, I started at the bottom note 
(because that's how they're supplied). I loosened the bolts at the keyboard 
end of the tapes and pulled a few inches back towards me before resecuring. 
then I attached the new tape to the end of the old and, with all the 
necessary bolts loose, gently pulled each through- you have to be careful 
with these temporary splices that they'll pass easily through the 
turnbuckles. 
martin puts marks (or sometimes punch-holes) to indicate the end of each 
tape, and a different mark for start-of-noise. each old tape is joined to the 
end of the previous as they are wound onto the NAB spool on the revox (which 
is really just there to hold the spool and look nice).
then all that's left is to fine-tweak the start positions for each note 
(though they're usually bang-on and were this time too).
then you put the keyboard back on for a first listen.......................

well (again).
two weeks ago, I had, briefly, a new favourite flute sound- I acquired a 
casio vl-tone calculator/keyboard thing and the "flute" is oddly attractive. 
that all changed today. everything everyone's said about the ian mac flute is 
true, and now 8 seconds just doesn't seem long enough. anyone familiar with 
"court of.." will recognise the sound, and now it can come out of a mellotron 
too.
the russian choir sounds like the best bits of all the other choirs all at 
once, but as if they're all standing further away somehow, which is good- 
usually the choirs can get a bit hairy if you play too many notes at once. 
another winner.
and the third sound is the bunch-of-violins, which I'd not heard before. in a 
few hours, I've become very fond of this timbre at my 400's half-speed 
setting, at which it acquires a hint of brass, bizarrely.

all-in-all, a successful transplant and some fab new sounds. thoroughly 
recommended.

duncan/400nr1098, like a dog with two dicks, ta very much like.

(martin- where do you want these 4 little spools?)