New forum member here introducing myself.. Ive been a synth head for 20 years now and just recently was able to finally purchase a Minimoog, something I’ve wanted ever since I first heard Return To Forever. . Over the last few years, prices kept inching up past my ability to “pay out” but finally I was able to pull it together and make it happen. I’m now the proud (third) owner of #11279, born in January 1979 (As the penciled in date on the mod wheel sheet metal tells me) She plays great only a few squarely notes in the keybed to clean up, no scratchy pots or flaky switches! Wood is in okay shape for being 36 years old, she’s missing the front badge and 3 knobs are missing their aluminum centers. Clean as a whistle inside too!
(Couldn’t resist this photo op, two minutes after I got it in my hands…(I was gentle of course!)
My intentions are: fit new caps/diodes the PS, (any others that are “do it while you’re in there”?) fit new bushings to the keyed, and investigate a mod wheel that goes from intense modulation to way intense modulation. (not much ability to modulate the modulation in other words)
On the bench..
My buddy’s got a ton of moogerfoogers so I look forward to letting them play together soon!
cheers,
~Steve
(Looking for a hard case and a dustcover)
Hi Revtor - welcome to the forum! I hope you will grow to cherish your Minimoog Model D as much as I cherish mine! There is a goldmine of info on the Mini here from a very knowledgable body of Moog enthusiasts - so dig in and enjoy!
Welcome and congrats on getting in the Minimoog D club, Steve !
My Mini still has almost all the original capacitors (except on the rectifier board), since all the ESR of the others was really low, even for a 40 years old instrument (mine was made in 1975).
Thanks guys, I got my keyboard apart yesterday and found the paper build tag!
Keyboard is apart and bushings are ready to go in today. I’ll straighten out the scraggly tines while I’m in there. Gold plated Cinch connectors -nice! I’m going to probe the mod wheel pot and see if its resistance varies smoothly or not, I’d like better mod depth control.
I’m not going to change much just the big electrolytics on the rectifier board and the 4004 diodes themselves. I don’t want to pull the boards if I don’t have to, the synth is working great, why mess with that. Debating refinishing the wood..? Probably not in this round of tweaks.
PLEASE, do NOT refinish the cabinet. So many do this and it’s a shame in my opinion. Yes, we all dream of finding a shrink wrapped 1974 Minimoog in the trunk of a garage kept ‘63 Corvette bought for $100 from that little ole’ lady. Clean it up best you can, but don’t sand/stain.
I agree with you EMwhite. Usually fully refinished Minimoog wood never really looks right to me and is easy to spot. It is usually way too glossy and/or richer in color than a Minimoog should be. IMHO a top quality vintage instrument like a Mini should wear its age well, rather than be restored to look like something brand new.
Nope, after spending a bit of time with it last night, (getting the bushings in and metal keys back in place) looking over the case and rest of the synth I’m definitely going to keep the wood as is. That spray on finish over the poplar has such an aesthetic vibe to it. Can’t mess with that. Maybe it’s the woodworker in me who sees bare wood and wants to “fix” it, but as it stands, it just fits Moog for the time which is really part of this particular synths story.
How about cleaning the panel grime? remove the knobs, then what? mild soap/water spray & toothbrush? Rag wipes with alcohol? anything recommended?
Also looking for a front badge, mine’s missing. I’ll order new from Argentina if I have to, but if anyone’s got a spare kicking around please let me know -name your price. I’d rather not battle the Ebay snipers.
I think that Kevin Lightner had a bunch re-made/silkscreened and sold them with a pin on the back (to attached to clothing like a name tag) but I’m not sure if they are authentic, exact copies, etc. Daphne Lightner has been selling them on eBay I think. Depending on the year, you would have two of them I believe (on on he back.
FWIW, my Minimoog (pictured above) was actually painted black at some point in it’s life. That doesn’t bother me either. It is what it is and I feel privileged to own such a fine instrument. Years ago when I first got the bug (after always wanted a digital synth in the 80s but never having the money) I jumped onto eBay and couldn’t believe they were going for $4,000 (which I also could not afford).
So I nabbed a Little Phatty Tribute and have been on the gear merry go round for years through Voyagers and all sorts of other synths. But I finally got this and am blown away every time I turn it on (just about every day). Nothing like it nor will there ever be.
I stumbled upon a badge today (repro) and couldn’t pass it up. It has a sticker as the adhesive. Can anyone confirm or deny or suggest how this should be affixed to the wood? This sticker only covers 3/4 of the rear area and I don’t want the thing to be peeling up in a month!
UPDATE New bushings are installed, bell crank caps cleaned and greased, I leveled the keys, gave them all a bath. Its looking great and feeling great. The buss bars were wiped with alcohol and I did remove a good bit of funk with that treatment but two/three squirrelly notes still remain…. maybe those springs are bent a bit? gotta give it a look. maybe a stray hair or something. There was evidence of someone working on the buss bars previously with some deoxit or similar , I can see tarnish spots etc. Hopefully I can nail those few bad notes.
I’ve got the 3 knob trim disks I need coming in the mail, that will get the dials all up to snuff. When they arrive its time to pull the knobs, bathe them and clean the panel dust/funk.
It looks like my Fiance is the crazy Ebay sniper I was worrying about. She bid on that authentic front panel Minimoog badge and won it! Happy birthday to me . . I think a thin double-stick tape is the way to attach this and I found a 3x5" piece of 3M 9690 tape on ebay for $3. I’ll let you know how it works out. Could someone bother to measure where it is located from the factory for me?
#11279 is coming along nicely. Man is it fun to play. Every time I turn it on I’m like Rick Wakeman journeying to the center of the earth and when I get there I meet Sun Ra. I’ve got it paired with a fender twin Reverb. Sweet combo.!
Distance from the right end of the badge to the nut: 3,82 cm, and to the outer edge of the right side plank: 5,63 cm
Distance from the rear end of the badge to the rear edge of the cross plank (close to panel): 1,735 cm
Distance from the front end of the badge to the front edge of the cross plank (close to keybed): 2,15 cm
So I installed new caps and diodes on the rectifier board today, nice Nichicons from Mouser. 2x 1500uF 35v, 1x 470uF 63v and 1x .01 630v film. 4 new 1n4004’s too.
I noticed when I opened it that the PS was regulating at +/- 9.64v. A bit low. After the parts replacement the #'s were the same, but even after trimming it all the way up, it would only reach 9.97v. Negative followed as expected. I read a KL post about absolute value not being as important as them matching, so that’s what I went for and settled at 9.90v. I don’t really like how I had to have the + trimmer (R21) almost fully CCW and it still wouldn’t reach 10v. Something running out of spec. Any one have any ideas? R39 and or R34 are 1% so pretty specific values, they may have drifted off over time? ? (click on the pics and they rotate to normal)
Cleaned some dust out of the enclosure, brushed dust from the backside of the filter board and cleaned the gold fingers w/alcohol a few times. She’s back up and singing!
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