Strand Patt.765

[Ollie]

I am currently involved in a production at a local theatre and for the first time today got to see the spot that I having to use.

 

A Strand Patt.765

 

Was just wondering what people's thoughts were on such an old f/s. Any experiences, good or bad would be appreciated.

 

Plus I have had a quick look over it and there doesn't seem to be any way of dimming it, am I just being stupid or is it really not there?????

 

Any help would be great.

 

Ollie

[johnhuson]

Dimming shutters were available for these units, whether the one you are using has them is a different ball game! However if you don't, some thick-ish black card or black wrap fitted into one of the flags on the colour changer will serve as a dimmer.

 

As with most discharge sources there is no way to electrically dim these units.

[Modge]

http://www.strandarchive.co.uk/lanterns/p765.html

 

from strand archive, the source of all knowledge on anything old and strandy in nature.

[paulears]

I have a few of these, and up to a couple of years we had them in daily use. The dimming shutters prevent fitting a semaphore colour change unit, as you have the dimming shutter in them. So you have to drop a colour frame into the small gap and this is pretty tricky.

 

Beam wise, the optics are pretty good and beam quality is pretty clean. They balance nicely, and can be operated very smoothly. My more modern replacements may well have more clever gadgets, but if I could have bought brand new 765s I think I would. They had a pretty useful leterbox linked shutter system - so you could open very wide and then simply chop off the top and bottom - ideal for those unsceduled endings where people stray apart, but a huge circle would look total pants, the shuttered circle looks less pants, if you see what I mean.

 

Lamp replacement is a bit fiddly, especially if you are doing a hot swap - getting the old lamp out with gloves is ok, but you need finger tip sensitivity to get the new one in, and this means taking the gloves off!

 

As you'll see from my avataar - I love 'em.

[P. Funk]

We have two at work but they're tungsten - maybe yours is as well? If so, just fit a followspot dimmer in line. Haven't used them much in shows yet but they're pretty easy to operate!

[gareth]

We have two at work but they're tungsten

... which would make it a Patt.793 (or a Patt.293 if it's the very old pre-TH version), not a Patt.765.Physically they look very similar, but the 765 has the rectangular 'tray' underneath the lamphouse for housing the control gear for the lamp, making them quite easy to differentiate between.

 

It's just occured to me to wonder where the designation of 765 for this particular lantern came from, seemingly falling, as it does, outside the usual Strand pattern numbering scheme ... there's the 763 and 764 (TH versions of the 263 and 264), but they're not really related in any way to the 765.

[Grahame]

Ah, the 765... my first followspot, and one I still have a nostalgia for. I liked the grab rail beside the gate slot; you developed an operating method of holding there with your left hand, fingers on the iris lever, and guiding the nose of the spot with the right hand on the colour changer tray, usually with thumb hooked round the closest semaphore lever, which would be your blackout card. This was a relatively comfortable and precision method of controlling the spot, and one that modern versions by and large fail to emulate. I find controlling the movement from the rear of the spot far less precise.

OH yes... and the bits of coat hanger or stage pins you had to gaffer onto the side rail and front runner to act as sights..... ah, memories!