Hello all,
has anyone requested a different wood or wood colour for their Minimoog Model D reissue? I have emailed Moog directly but haven’t received an answer.
Thanks.
This not an answer…
Perhaps you could call them. Please let me know if you get a response.
I have been considering getting a Minimoog Model D reissue. However, when looking on the internet I notice that most if not all retail sites are posting stock pictures of a Minimoog Model D reissue. Meaning that the pictures are not of the actual machine. It is not “what you see is what you get.” This is also true on ebay–thought that they had a policy that photographs had to be of the actual item–apparently not. Not only do you not see the actual item you also don’t get to touch it.
There are 2 brick and mortar stores in my area, however, they are not willing to unseal the boxes to let me have a look.
One displayed demo unit was very yellow looking…not appealing to me.
Yes, I do realize the Minimoog is not a piece of furniture, but the other hand I have a vintage Minimoog (I bought in 1978)with dark finish (walnut?) with little wood grain characteristics. It sits in the center of my house. Although it is not particularly attractive, it also is more importantly not distractive. For example it does not have knots, skid marks, blotches etc…
If anyone has a “beautiful” reissue, please post a picture…
My beautiful model d reissue…
I’m not at home and don’t have a really good photo of mine but mine is really nice. I’ve never seen an original Model D but from the pictures I’ve seen it appears that the finish tended to be a little darker than what mine is. Mine isn’t real light by no means and yes although it isn’t furniture it certainly could be. WIth that said the only other reissue that I’ve physically seen was at a local GC. It was about the same shade as mine but the wood piece along the bottom of the control panel with the Moog badge did have kind of what I would describe as a knot in th wood. That kind of surprised me. The only thing I can think of is that maybe GC got it as strictly a Demo unit. But then again it has disappeared a few weeks back so maybe they sold it?
Edit: I forgot to add that it just so happened that an original Model D Serial number #9898 came up on our local Craigslist. It says it’s been referbished and what little photos there are it does seem to be in really good shape and actually about the same shade as my Reissue. It’s also the same price as a reissue.
I basically asked them if it’s possible to stain the wood making it that deep chocolate color or as in the mahogany select series (which is the wood of my Voyager). They still haven’t replied, I am going to wait a few days more and maybe I will call them.
I can’t really judge from the pics, because the light might affect the perception of color.
Here’s one of the colors I’d be interested in:
Sadly it’s not possible.. Here’s the reply I got from Moog:
We get the wood from our manufacturer already stained. We do not make any changes to the stain unfortunately. We keep it close to the original as possible.
All the best,
Alice
and upon asking whether it would be possibly to request it from their manufacturer:
I’m sorry it’s not. This is the only way we make the Model D. Everything is done in a specific way to meet quality control. Our production team is quite small so we’re not able to do many custom changes.
All the best,
Alice
Oh well…
Itś kind of uggly looking but that´ s the charm with it, i think.
The Wood Will propably get darker at the year pass.
You may find these interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vln2M6sYKdg
These look awesome but Moog doesn’t offer any wood choices (not even at an additional cost).
Moog sold an all black Voyager to Kanye with even the keys blackened, and Bernie Worrell had a customized purple cabineted Voyager with all black switches (recently sold for $1875). Customization seems possible.
Well yes it seems possible but when I asked them about a different wood, they said they won’t do it. I have pasted their response in this topic.
there is a guy on Ebay selling replacement wooden cases for Minimoogs. Not cheap but you can request any color you like. He makes them himself but they look really nice. I was seriously considering it because quite frankly i was disappointed in the pale “babyshit coloured” stain of my reissue when all the originals ive ever seen were a darker richer wood color. i would just have to break open my minimoog and transfer the bits into the new case…and im still enjoying it so much at the moment im hesitant to do that. Plus I just havent found the $$$ to jump yet…
Thanks for the head up - I don’t know how to dismantle a Minimoog and rebuild it using the new wood. It’s really a shame that they don’t offer new types of wood or other stains from the get go. Here’s what they told me after I made a second desperate attempt:
Thank you for your email Ioannis,
The Model D is only made with 1 option for the wood. There are no customs workings with the Model D. We are keeping it as close to the original as possible.
All the best,
ALICE PRIOR
SALES ASSISTANT
MOOG MUSIC INC.
They won’t do it even when I offered to pay more for a new wood and/or different stain. They keep repeating that they want it “as close to the original as possible” while we know that the new LFO, MIDI, new ins/outs, new modulation options make it no so close to the original.
Get a carpenter to go over it
That would do the trick
No need to make a whole new case
Depending on how it’s sealed, you may be able to stain the stock parts without having to sand.
Years ago I saw a picture of a Voyager in a rosewood case. That looked PURTY.
What wood is the new model-d ?
Wallnut?
Massive or fineer ?
“The Model D is only made with 1 option for the wood. There are no customs workings with the Model D. We are keeping it as close to the original as possible.”
funny as all of the “originals” ive ever seen are a much darker color. And i suspect a different wood type as well. eg Ash instead of Oak. Maybe im wrong.
has anyone from Moog confirmed that they are using the same wood type as the “originals” were made from? if they are going to sound pedantic then i hope its for a reason!
Well, I didn’t want to argue with them since they said they won’t do it but on the other hand the re-issue is not as close as possible to the original given the fact that it has MIDI, the extra inputs/outputs, the extra LFO and some other things here and there.
Plus if the type of wood is different (not to mention the colour), then it seems to me that their argument is pretty much non-existent. Anyway, funny thing is that I know that they have made some custom-made Voyagers in the past (maybe other devices, too?) so I really don’t see why it’s such a fuss for them to provide a few wood/stain options. It’s not like I am asking for a totally redesigned electronic circuit.
They used different woods over the production era. First ones used walnut. I don’t remember what the later ones used but they were stained to look like walnut.
The webpage with the reissue does specify a “locally-sourced Appalachian hard-wood enclosure” for the case. I can identify hardwoods by the grain, but I can’t find a high resolution image with a good look at the wood grain.