Mellotronists

Jack Younger wrote:

> Hello!
>
>      Granted, ebay tends to set the value of items, in
> a way, as does demand, but I guess the two often go
> hand in hand, so to speak.  But the very idea of that
> particular unit's rarity (1 of only two made, as far
> as we know, correct me if I'm wrong) can easily
> justify a 9K tag.
>      However, will it sell for that?  Who knows.  As
> far a Markus' clear tron, Acrylic is ridiculously
> expensive, especially at the thickness required to
> build a structurally sound cabinet.  It's also very
> difficult to work with.  Yes, who the hell would buy
> one?!?  I would, if I had the gimme.  Although, after
> the money invested in my EMI, I might actually come
> within a grand or two of that, possibly.  Ahh...but
> she's sooo worth it.
>
> -Jack Younger  --   E4/103S, The Bastard 'Tron

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello Jack and everyone,  I worked one summer during
college at a plastics firm.  Acrylic/Plexiglas/Lucite/Perspex,
whichever you call it , requires diamond wet-saws to cut and
cooled machining-heads to form,drill, etc.  Bonding at corners
is a similar material to Crazy-Glue (cyanoacrylate), but a special
gap-filling formula .

By its very nature,  acrylic material is NOT friendly to continuous
movement. Hence the cracks in ClearTron #2 and also reported
to have occured in Dave Kean's ClearTron #1  (can anyone verify??)
....These instruments are suited for display w/o frequent relocation.

See attached photo of  clear Hammond  M3 on display at the
Chicago Museum Of Science and Industry.  Look at those curved and
machined surfaces incl. legs, spindles ,and bench-seat.
...I'd hate to even GUESS what that thing cost to produce !

Enjoy the photo !    -- Jerry  K (....seeing clearly now....)

1. [About Demand and eBay values]They ALWAYS go hand in hand IMO.
I've never been stupid about eBay, and I appreciate it versus the
days when I had to scour the want ads in the Milwaukee newspaper
praying a Minimoog or Clavinet would come up, and I understand you 
may have to pay market value PLUS some delta to outbid the other 
saps out there; it's the nature of the beast.

2. Agreed again about acrylic - maybe it's not such a good Tron
material, certainly not worth such a huge premium IMO.  That's for
new machines (although it's cool Markus at least gives you so many
options), and old, where we really don't know enough about this SM
machine (though it's likely it is indeed extremely rare).

OFF TOPIC FURTHER ON POINT #1: I'm 36 and started buying all my
vintage keys in 1989-90 when people were giving them away.  Now it's
natural to bitch about having to pay $3000 for a clean Jupiter8 (just
for a random example) - BUT... think about the saps that actually 
bought those units new.  Not the McCartney's and Stevie Wonder's,
but guys playing the Tiki Room at the Newark Airport Ramada.  They
paid up to the equivalent of Corvette to Ferrari money, LITERALLY,
for a single keyboard, that we pay our "toy" budgets for today.
Do we have a right to bitch?
EXAMPLE: I bought a mint CS-80 locally here in Chi off eBay last 
Fall.  Went to check it out to verify, where the guy first offered
to cancel the auction for $2125 but couldn't get ahold of his friend
whose eBay account he used.  Of course, they didn't wind up 
cancelling, and it cost me $3575 in the end.  But he paid $6900
for it in 1980, and is living in a trailer park 25 years later
(could that be partially as a result?) - do I have a right to 
complain?


--- In Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com, Jerry Korb <jkorb@i...> wrote:
> 
> 
> Jack Younger wrote:
> 
> > Hello!
> >
> >      Granted, ebay tends to set the value of items, in
> > a way, as does demand, but I guess the two often go
> > hand in hand, so to speak.  But the very idea of that
> > particular unit's rarity (1 of only two made, as far
> > as we know, correct me if I'm wrong) can easily
> > justify a 9K tag.
> >      However, will it sell for that?  Who knows.  As
> > far a Markus' clear tron, Acrylic is ridiculously
> > expensive, especially at the thickness required to
> > build a structurally sound cabinet.  It's also very
> > difficult to work with.  Yes, who the hell would buy
> > one?!?  I would, if I had the gimme.  Although, after
> > the money invested in my EMI, I might actually come
> > within a grand or two of that, possibly.  Ahh...but
> > she's sooo worth it.
> >
> > -Jack Younger  --   E4/103S, The Bastard 'Tron
> 
>   -----------------------------------------------------------------
-------
> 
> Hello Jack and everyone,  I worked one summer during
> college at a plastics firm.  Acrylic/Plexiglas/Lucite/Perspex,
> whichever you call it , requires diamond wet-saws to cut and
> cooled machining-heads to form,drill, etc.  Bonding at corners
> is a similar material to Crazy-Glue (cyanoacrylate), but a special
> gap-filling formula .
> 
> By its very nature,  acrylic material is NOT friendly to continuous
> movement. Hence the cracks in ClearTron #2 and also reported
> to have occured in Dave Kean's ClearTron #1  (can anyone verify??)
> ....These instruments are suited for display w/o frequent 
relocation.

> 
> See attached photo of  clear Hammond  M3 on display at the
> Chicago Museum Of Science and Industry.  Look at those curved and
> machined surfaces incl. legs, spindles ,and bench-seat.
> ...I'd hate to even GUESS what that thing cost to produce !
> 
> Enjoy the photo !    -- Jerry  K (....seeing clearly now....)

----- Original Message ----- 

From: "dscr22" <dscr22@...>
To: <Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 13, 2005 2:50 AM
Subject: [Mellotronists] Re: Clear tron, Clear thoughts...




> OFF TOPIC FURTHER ON POINT #1: I'm 36 and started buying all my
> vintage keys in 1989-90 when people were giving them away.  Now it's
> natural to bitch about having to pay $3000 for a clean Jupiter8 (just
> for a random example) - BUT... think about the saps that actually
> bought those units new.  Not the McCartney's and Stevie Wonder's,
> but guys playing the Tiki Room at the Newark Airport Ramada.  They
> paid up to the equivalent of Corvette to Ferrari money, LITERALLY,
> for a single keyboard, that we pay our "toy" budgets for today.
> Do we have a right to bitch?
> EXAMPLE: I bought a mint CS-80 locally here in Chi off eBay last
> Fall.  Went to check it out to verify, where the guy first offered
> to cancel the auction for $2125 but couldn't get ahold of his friend
> whose eBay account he used.  Of course, they didn't wind up
> cancelling, and it cost me $3575 in the end.  But he paid $6900
> for it in 1980, and is living in a trailer park 25 years later
> (could that be partially as a result?) - do I have a right to
> complain?

Yeah, how *did* anyone afford these things back then? Apparently, in 1980 a
new MiniMoog would set you back 1200UKP. I sold one for a friend of a friend
(gutted not to be able to keep it!) a couple of years ago for... 1200UKP,
which seems like a lot of money now. Translate \ufffd1200 from 1980, and it's now
nearer four grand. Puts the price of a Voyager into perspective, dunnit? A
Jupiter-8 when they came out? Four grand (UK) - translates to 12 grand.
Ouch. And I'm being greedy re.the Moog, 'cos I've already got one.  :-)

Speaking of which, are there any Mini owners out there who have as much
tuning grief as me? I've taken to hooking it up through a guitar tuning
stomp box with an option to cut the signal off while tuning (thankfully),
but it still managed to drift an entire semitone during one song (!) at a
recent gig. The recording isn't pretty... Incidentally, finally used #1145
at three of our recent Julian Cope support slots, and it behaved
beautifully. Despite scepticism from the rest of the band (particularly on
the 'four people to lift the flightcase' front), I'm told it sounds
fantastic on the desk recordings. One up to me, I think.  :-)

Andy T.
M400 #1145 - glowing with pride
MiniMoog #6609 - in the doghouse

In a message dated 3/13/2005 2:02:26 AM Pacific Standard Time,  
andy.thompson@... writes:

Speaking  of which, are there any Mini owners out there who have as much
tuning grief  as me? I've taken to hooking it up through a guitar tuning
stomp box with  an option to cut the signal off while tuning (thankfully),
but it still  managed to drift an entire semitone during one song (!) at a
recent gig.  


It's been 50-50 with mine.  My original Mini, an older one  bought locally, 
required a major tuning tweak every time it was fired up, and  stayed pretty 
much in tune, unless the planets were in a certain alignment or  someone farted 
on stage.  My current Mini, a newer one bought from eBay  with no knowledge of 
its history, has been remarkably stable.  My  understanding is that 
oscillator drift was common in the earlier units was due  to the inherent design of the 
oscillator itself, with later units being  fitted with a more stable unit 
(and older ones retrofitted).  Brian Kehew  would certainly know the scoop on 
this.
 
Does anyone know if this was also problematic on the modular units  
(excepting Emerson's highly exposed and abused unit).  I had the good  fortune of 
meeting the late Paul Beaver in the early 70's and fiddling around  with his 3P 
(almost identical to Klaus' unit on eBay - prayers for Klaus) and  neither 
experienced it nor did he mention anything about drift (perhaps because  it wasn't a 
concern).  
 
Re: Andy K's response about the Mini being an icon with a more  deserving 
place on the mantlepiece, that could easily be said of mellotrons as  well, but 
look at all of us!  ;-)    Tell that to Rick  Wakeman, who is again touring 
with 2 Mini's (but alas, no trons).
 
Frank Samagaio
MkII #134 / M400 #908 - Just like the Eveready Rabbit and  Ol' Man River,they 
                               just keep  rollin' along!

In a message dated 13/03/2005 16:27:51 GMT Standard Time, MAinPsych@...  
writes:

Andy K's response about the Mini being an icon with a more deserving  place 
on the mantlepiece, that could easily be said of mellotrons as  well
 
Bloody Hell Frank, you must have a very big mantelpiece!
Andy K