Models
Every Mellotron,
1963 to 2007.
About 2,500 Mellotrons were built between 1963 and 1986, first by Bradmatic in Birmingham, renamed Streetly Electronics in 1970. We work on all of them; most that reach us are M400s.
- £1,000
- a Mk II in 1964, when a typical house cost £2,000 to £3,000
- 2,500
- Mellotrons built, about, from 1963 to 1986
- 1,800
- M400s, about, the most common model
History
From California to a skip in Birmingham.
- 1949
Harry Chamberlin starts building tape-replay keyboards in California. His first sound is three violins, so the range is G3 to F6.
- 1962
His salesman Bill Fransen takes two Chamberlin 600s to England, looking for someone to make 70 matching tape heads. He finds Frank, Norman and Les Bradley of Bradmatic Ltd.
- 1963
The Mk I. Bandleader Eric Robinson pays for the recording sessions at IBC Studios in London.
- 1966
Chamberlin and the Bradleys settle: Mellotrons for the UK, Chamberlins for the US. The Beatles record “Strawberry Fields Forever” that winter.
- 1970
Bradmatic becomes Streetly Electronics and launches the M400.
- 1986
Production stops. Les Bradley throws most of the tooling into a skip.
- 2007
Streetly, revived by John Bradley and Martin Smith, builds the M4000 on the M400's chassis.
Have one of these in a loft?
Book a bench check