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Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler
There was also the 'Chamberlin', the earliest tape-organ from which the Mellotron was derived. There is an interesting tale of the Chamberlin salesman going rogue, running away with one and setting up abroad in opposition.
David
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Yes, supposedly the bloke came over to Britain to look for someone who could make tape heads for them, being a quite specialized use as they all had to be pretty identical to one another, plus combine that with the amount of heads required you realise why finding a suitable manufacturer was quite difficult.
Here is a Wikipedia except on what supposedly happened,
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Originally Posted by Wikipedia
The concept of the Mellotron originated when Chamberlin's sales agent, Bill Fransen, brought two of Chamberlin's Musicmaster 600 instruments to England in 1962 to search for someone who could manufacture 70 matching tape heads for future Chamberlins. He met Frank, Norman and Les Bradley of tape engineering company Bradmatic Ltd, who said they could improve on the original design.
Fransen failed to explain to the Bradleys that he was not the owner of the concept, and Chamberlin was unhappy with the fact that someone overseas was copying his idea. After some acrimony between the two parties, a deal was struck between them in 1966, whereby they would both continue to manufacture instruments independently.
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As an extra bit Rick Wakeman is supposedly one of the very few people who can keep a mellotron in tune whilst playing, having adopted a special playing technique.