Top prize should go to anyone who owns a working Mellotron....

Too true! But can anyone think of a folk album with a mellotron on it??? I can't, but you'd think it would be the perfect thing for muckle ballads. Imagine if Dolly Collins had used one. Mellotrons remain my main keyboard fantasy, although I hear Pip's plea...

I want a clavichord now. Curses!

...with a certain empathy, although they are very quiet.

Back in the real world, Rachel & I were testdriving a MicroKORG in Liverpool yesterday with a view to adding one pretty soon. Not sure if it had a clavichord setting but as replacement for our little-used lap-top harmonium it's going to be ideal.

*

John's mention of rebecs reminds me I've got two, both by Tim Hobrough: a wee one and a curious bass which was recently gifted to me. Naturally, I have an Ideal Fantasy Rebec too - the Goerge treble which you can buy at the EMS for a mere £630. It looks like it's been made in a Year 7 woodwork class but it's the finest sounding rebec I've ever played by a long chalk - if anyone knows the Clemencic Consort's iconic recordings of the Cantigas de Santa Maria*, then think of Michael Dittrich's Rabe Morisco on Cantiga #25 and that's the sound right there! Priced for wealthy posh early muso types for whom paying over the odds for badly made (but authentic) instruments is par for the course, I'd maybe buy it a half that - hell, or tha sort of money I could get a genuine 18th century violin (complete with ghost) and have enough left over to get a couple of half-decent bows. Still, any fiddlers passing the Salts Mill at Saltair anytime soon go have a look. And be sure to check out the bhajis, pakora & samosas at the Spar in Shipley whilst you're passing...   

* Add this to your 70's Folk Albums, Pip!