Acrylic Mellotron M400

The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard. The heart of the instrument is a bank of parallel linear magnetic audio tapes, which have approximately eight seconds of playing time each. Playback heads underneath each key enable the playing of pre-recorded sounds.

Cantos’ extremely rare clear Mellotron is one of only three – maybe even two – in the world. This clear Perspex-case Mellotron was developed in England in 1972 for the London Music Expo to allow listeners to see how the tape replay mechanism works inside the instrument.

This machine was stolen from Mellotron Digital in 1986 while on display in New York and resurfaced in 1990 in Dallas Texas in a studio called "Dr. Funkenstein’s Music Lab".

A Fort Worth radio D.J. named Brian Wilson sold it to  David Kean in May 1991. Cantos acquired the instrument in 2002.  Cantos also has an extensive collection of Mellotron tapes.

Pop Culture Reference
The Mellotron is used prominently in The Beatles’ "Strawberry Fields Forever” and the Moody Blues’ "Nights in White Satin" and "Tuesday Afternoon”.  You can also hear the Mellotron in Marvin Gaye’s "Mercy Mercy Me" and Radiohead’s Exit Music (For a Film).