Current owners hope to attract musicians who want to work with desk used to make fab four’s celebrated album – after it previously failed to sell

Millions of dollars worth of Beatles memorabilia changes hands every year, so the owners of a mixing console used to create Abbey Road hoped they might reap a £1.4m bonanza when they auctioned it last year.

But bids didn’t meet their reserve price, so now they have taken a different tack: instead of targeting fans, they are appealing to musicians who might actually use it.