Mellotronists

"You have to treat them like a fine acoustic guitar or violin."


Personally, I don't find the "Stradivarius" analogy too over-the-top.  No 
matter how you slice it, there's only a couple thousand of these amazing 
boxes on the planet.

Although, for pragmatic reasons, I stick with my custom "Jon-O-Tron" (TM!) 
Korg patches on stage.  Unless I am getting paid BIG bucks to play for a 
large audience on a large stage, I couldn't bear the thought of putting my 
baby in the line of fire of drunken louts uncaringly spilling beer on her.