Moog Music Forum

it may sound crazy, but i'm thinking about building a wooden body/case/frame for my MG-1 instead of those cheap plastic sides. I used to have an OPUS 3, so I understand the construction of it, but what would be the best wood... and stain?

if anyone knows that kind of stuff. thanks!

My Model D has walnut wood and I don’t know what wood they are using in my Voyager Anniversary Edition since it is stained in black.
I think The Prodigy and Opus-3 used Pine wood and then a layer of walnut veneer.

Regards
Demokid

Aren't there a lot of Mini's in maple too ?

My Memorymoog seems to be walnut.

Model D's started out in Walnut, the cabinets were built by local carpenters but as supplies ran dry different timbers were used. A large supply of dry oak was found at one point and the production line became oak based but In the end Maple was used as a cheaper and more plentiful resource . . . these were stained darker to match the previous Mini's but many people strip the timber back to the lighter Maple tone - these are often called "Blonde" minis.

Memorymoogs also fitted in with what was available at the time - my memorymoog comes in aged Oak for example.

Opus III and Prodigy's were also made from Maple and stained dark.

Taurus pedals, Micromoogs & Multimoogs had walnut veneer sides with aluminium edging.

The key thing i would say is to use a hardwood . . Oak, walnut, Cherry etc as this will look good longer . . . my Opus III was pretty smashed up so recently I had a new case made for it but in pine with a piano black lacquer finish - looks great but it already has several indents from light handling.

Mal

Minimoogs were not maple - they were boxwood.

Roger Luther confirmed this and he worked at Moog Music from 1971 to 1995.

Maple is a really dense wood, hard to sand down to a smooth finish. It's also much heavier than most hardwoods, a Minimoog model D in maple would be REALLY heavy. Boxwood is similar to walnut in density and you can stain it to look like walnut.

I've never seen a Minimoog model D in oak, I know my hardwoods and the grain of oak is very obvious, even from a distance. Oak is also hard to work with like maple.

The Voyager Performers are oak or ash cases.

MC

Having met a few of the "old moog boys" in my time I know how memories can sometimes get a little hazy . . . so, based on my experience of owning several Model D's over the last 18 years I have come accross Maple model D's, and I know that the cabinetry in the early days was very much a situation of "who's available to build it and what timbers do thay have in their stores". It was only later when the minimoog started to sell that moog then went out and sourced the raw timber themselves.

The original R A Moog model D's were hand crafted Walnut, as were the last 25 off the production line in 1980.

Just to put the cat amongst the pigeons - what do you make of this?



. . . by the way my father is a cabinet maker of 60+ years . . . won the All-Ireland carpentry competition 3 times in a row in 1941, 42, 43 . . .

Mal

I'm always humble enough to be proven wrong, especially from folks who have seen more Minimoogs pass through their hands than through mine.

That Minimoog in the pic definitely looks like a maple case, but the trim on the top of the panel looks like oak or ash.

Woodworking runs in my family too

I have one of the early RAM Minimoogs, serial #1053. The walnut is gorgeous.

The last twenty five in walnut were made in 1981, not 1980.

Michael

You are right . . . 1981 it was . . . sorry, that was just off the top of my head, it's late here in the UK!

I have owned 5 model D's in 18 years . . . i used to buy them and when work dried out I would sell them etc (to costly to do that now but there was a time in the late 80's when you could pick one up for a few hundred pounds).

Now with my affiliation with RLMusic.co.uk I get to see quite a few D's and they all get stripped back and restored so we have seen, walnuts, maples, boxwoods, oaks, we've seen cabinets with mixed timbers . . . we have had consecutive serials with different finishes - who knows what was going on?

My mini has an Oak case . . . the first mini I bought in 1986 was an RA, wish I had hung on to it!

Mal

writeroxie wrote:it may sound crazy, but i'm thinking about building a wooden body/case/frame for my MG-1 instead of those cheap plastic sides. I used to have an OPUS 3, so I understand the construction of it, but what would be the best wood... and stain?

if anyone knows that kind of stuff. thanks!

I have also considered doing this... I thought It would be a fun project...

it seems like the sides are glued though, I dunno if this is done in all the more quality synths....but anyways, lemme know what you end up doing so we don't make the same mistake twice....

hehe

yeah sounds good, i'll ruin mine first

If you can find anyone with 'half an ounce' of practical skills then they should have no problem taking any of these units apart, understanding the basic case construction, and devising a "full wood" alternative (if that is what you want).

Look at the current construction and fixtures of your synth by disassembling the case in stages.

Something currently with plastic 'glued-on' end panels could have wooden end panels quite easily - it just depends on the current method of fixing. If the top and bottom are rigid then you could consider 'full width' bolts.

Always make sure that you can revert to the original casing though - at least until you are happy !

K

Just out of curiosity: are there other Memorymoog users here who have a MM with an other type of wood than walnut ?
Are there e.g. Memorymoog synths which are not dark ? In lighter coloured wood like natural maple/oak/... ?

If so: can I see pics of it ? Anyway I never saw a pale Memorymoog before.