Hi all, Newbie member here. I was wondering how long the Chamberlin was made? How many? I seem to recall seeing an ad for them in Keyboard magazine in the late 70's (or early 80's.) Any and all info would be appreciated. Thanks! Cheers, Douglas Texas
Hi Douglas,
Welcome aboard.
The numbers on Chamberlins are approximate as accurate records apparently don't exist. The first Chamberlins were the single track 100 and 200 from the late '40s and early '50s, made in Harry Chamberlin's garage in Upland Calif. I believe we have (or had) one or more list members with one of these. Around 100 of these may have been made.
The Musicmaster series from the early '60s was the breakthrough that added multiple tracks, the rotating drum station selection mechanism, and dual keyboards with rhythm and lead sounds. See Ken Leonard's site for photos of one of these. This design was the inspiration and model for the original Mellotron Mark I and II. The great story of how the California design became the much more well known Mellotron in the UK is chronicled at various places.
The ad you refer to was probably for the M series which came out in about 1970, the same time as the Mellotron M400. Again Chamberlin introduced a new idea. These used a motor driven rewind mechanism that eliminated the need for the long spring based pulley mechanism of the earlier machines. The M-1 was much smaller and could sit on a small table. It used two-channel tape heads and 8 tracks. You could get 14 combinations of sounds from one set of tapes.
Chamberlin patented many of his original ideas. For a fascinating look into the insides, the patents with their drawings are available as PDFs at the European Patent Office. (Patented of course in the US, but the USPTO site needs some silly plug-in to see the scans.)
Harry Chamberlin's Patents:
100 and 200 series: 2940351 and 2910298
Musicmaster series: 3250847 and 3272907
Rhythmate drum machine: 3278188
M series machines: 3567840
Put "US" in front of these numbers and put them in to the "View a Patent Application" box at the link above.
The mellotron.com site has a table of the complete history of Chamberlin manufacturing. Go to Archives -> Chamberlin History.
Btw, I am not an expert on any of this, just someone who is fascinated by it all. There are real experts here, maybe we can get one or more of them to expound :-)
Bob S.