Anyone here ever own a mellotron?

I used to be infatuated with Mellotrons too. There was a local keyboard player who was considerably older than me who had one. I used to like to go see his band just to hear him use it. He also had a Hammond, a Minimoog, and a Fender Rhodes, so he had all the great stuff of that era. I have never played one however. I have all the Mellotron tape libraries in sample formats though and have used them a number of times. I try not to use them a lot because it tends to make things sound very dated to me. I have mixed them in with other string sample libraries on a few occasions and they still have a magic even when blended in with other string sounds.

I guess the first time I ever heard one was the flutes at the beginning of Strawberry Fields.  I just didn't know it at the time.

Those things had too many moving parts and were always breaking down with bands who used them on the road.  I remember Rick Wakeman saying in an interview that he carried 4 when he was touring with Yes.  2 for on stage, one for a backup, and there was always one that was being repaired.  When he stopped using them he lit them on fire to watch them burn because of all the grief he had endured with them.

I don't imagine there are a lot of them left that are in working condition.

True, but ironically there's an abundance of software that samples mellotrons with all of their warbles and pitch issues.  

I believe they were a product of Dallas Arbiter. That would not be a plus factor for reliability. I remember waiting over six months for an output transformer for my Sound City 120 head. It must have been shipped on the Mayflower.