In a message dated 5/18/2006 10:47:31 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, jonesalley@... writes:
You know what puzzles me every time one of these debates starts?
NOBODY can really be making enough money from Mellotron manufacture and
restoration to justify all of the rancor that oozes out occasionally. I
could understand it if we were talking about
country-manor-with-a-Bentley-and-a-Feadship-and-a-LearJet-as-well-as-a-vacation-home-on-the-Riviera
kind of money, but that didn't happen back when Mellotrons were a big dog in
the keyboard world, and seems far less likely to happen today. It seems
more like a Stradivarius labor-of-love kind of business than a crank-'em-out
Korg Triton kind of a business and even if there was only ONE source for
Mellotron development, manufacture, and life-support it would still be
difficult to make a financially rewarding living at it. These things aren't
exactly amenable to assembly-line business models, and with as
labor-intensive as I would imagine their construction to be, it will always
be a cottage industry with a real boutique kind of cachet. I have utmost
respect for everybody that contributes to the continued legacy of these
noble instruments and it is a shame that there is so much baggage that has
the potential to damage their continuing story.
Sincerely,
Rodney King
Let's all pray for their continued survival. After all, it's hard to beat a real Mellotron.