WEM Telstar

[paulfox]

Hi, I'm new here. I recently rescued this WEM Telstar which was being thrown away by a neighbour. I have no idea if it will work or not as there's no built-in amp or speaker, no volume pedal and the output socket is a mystery to me. Would love to hear from anyone who knows about these things.

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[sospiri]

Hi Paul,

I'm new here too and after a gap of nearly 7 years, I just hope that this reaches you. I owned a Telstar in the mid-1960s, serial number 17, and it was actually used to do a gig for the BBC West of England Home Service in 1965 and I even have a recording of me using it made from FM Radio on a Ferrograph Mk 7, later transferred to cassette, and finally digitized by me a few years ago. Of course, the quality of the recording after all those changes of format changes leaves a bit to be desired, but is certainly listenable if a bit dated.

I've no idea whether Charlie Watkins actually made them, and he doesn't even mention the Telstar on the few videos that are still available on YouTube. I'd recently sold my Ajax Vibraphone because its use in a resident quartet in Bournemouth was a bit limited. I went up to Charlie's workstop in London and Charlie let me play one and mine was delivered to Syd Fay Music in Bournemouth about a week later. It was all solid state, so not a lot to go wrong with it except perhaps the capacitors in the power supply. I sold it some years later, but I can't even remember who I sold it to now.

Regards, Sospiri.