stripping a prodigy.

[popmatik]

Hello folks, this is my first post on the forum - so first of all thanks for having me.

I recently dipped my toe into moog world by picking up a moog prodigy from ebay. It needs a little tune up and a bit of a good old clean but thanks to the forum links to the service manuals I should be fine to do that.

Anyway... my question is about the wood panels. They ones on mine are chipped scuffed and scraped. I was wondering whether anyone had any advice on stripping the wood back to its natural state. Peter forrest in his book analog synthesizers A-Z recommends stripping it back to the natural wood as the chips make the synth look cheap.

So, has anyone ever done this? Any tips? I have opened the synth up and seen that there is masses of glue holding the metal panels to the wood, it looks stuck forever, so i need a way of stripping the varnish from the wood without stripping the paint from the metal.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated. I going to do some pics of my progress so hopefully they will be of help to future moogers.

Cheers
Rob.

[Nick Montoya]

The Prodigy was my first Moog too ! And this was also my first order of business!

However, I took all the electronics out and used a razor blade to cut out as much of that dark brown factory glue as I could. Then I wiggled off the panels to isolate them from the rest of the chassis.

I just used a heavy grit sand paper & electric hand sander to take the old finish off and smooth out the scuffs. Then I hit it with a very fine grit sand paper to make it silky smooth...

Then I re-stained the wood (a light oak) similar to the original prodigy's. The later Prodigy's have a darker walnut stain and of course have CV in/out and Audio inputs... My Prodigy was the first run (more common - I believe - than the later version)

I also used a heavy industrial glue to re attach the wood end caps to the front panel...

Hope this helps...

It's not as scary as it might seem... And it is NO where near as difficult as re finishing a Model D or Voyager (Both of which I HAVE done ! )

See- here is my MMV Electric Blue...

[popmatik]

thanks for the info there... that seems like the best way to go about it.

Can i ask what glue did you use to rejoin the metal to the wood?

p.s. loving the voyager job! I just bought a little phatty too...mmm moogs!

[popmatik]

I just read that you used heavy industrial glue to rejoin the panels... so ignore my last question. I was clearly too excited to have had a reply to read the response fully!!

[Nick Montoya]

I think i used a home made combo of GORILLA GLUE (thats the brand name) and good old fashion hot glue.. The hot glue was to fill the gaps good, but the gorilla glue was used in the crevice of the wood before filling it in with hot glue..

Taking the panels off is the only way to do it.. It will allow you to sand and stain that tiny little lip of wood that runs directly above the top of the control panel.. It would be almost impossible to sand that part without touching the metal of the prodigy's top panel...

[changeofeyes]

I still have a prodigy up for trades if anyone is interested.

[industrial_gypsy]

I've refurbished the wood on 2 or 3 Prodigies over the years. One of them I disassembled and re-glued with hot melt but the other ones I managed to do a good job on the wood without damaging the metal by using copious amounts of masking tape and taking great care.
Stripping the wood is easy enough but time consuming. I used stanley knife blades to scrape and various sandpapars. (Synthwood will be horrified but end result was much better than before!)
Here's some shots of them.
Good luck with it.

[popmatik]

Dragging up a very old thread as I never got around to doing this!

What finish did you add to the Prodigy. Do you think it's best to add a laquer or just going with a wax or something?

Cheers

[industrial_gypsy]

I use finishing wax (that's what it's called in the UK anyway). A few layers. I would avoid laquer, varnish or anything else like that personally.

Good luck, it's easy enough to do once the synth is dismantled.

[popmatik]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm in the UK and finishing wax was something I had considered. It seems to be the thing that a lot of furniture restorers use and I like the aged look it gives. I don't want the thing to look shiny brand new as it certainly isn't! I just don't want it to look like chipped varnish like it currently does.

Did you ever do any mods on your prodigy? I'm thinking of adding the Kenton CV kit to mine as it's an earlier model.

[Kevin Lightner]

Some nice work displayed.
My compliments to the chefs!

Fwiw, one can sometimes separate glued pieces easier using a hot air gun.
Even if the glue wasn't originally hot melt, it can really help.

I don't use hot glue often because it's not as "pore seeking" (porous) as regular wood glue.
It can immediately cool down once it touches a colder surface and instead of gluing things together, cause a surface coating or bead of glue.
To make hot glue better, it can help to heat up the intended joints first.
The glue will seep farther into cracks and woodgrain instead of immediately cooling off.

[popmatik]

Thanks for the tip Kevin!

I think i'll use wood glue on the actual wooden elements of the case. It's where the metal control panelling meets the wood that I think hot glue has been used. I can't think of another way to glue the metal and the wood together?

[Kevin Lightner]

There are glues specifically made for metal to wood bonding.
Google?

[popmatik]

Ha! Yeah good point.

Gorilla glue looks like it would do the trick. My only concern with that is that if I glue the case with something so strong I might never get it apart again should I need to!

My Pordigy has a chipped wood corner, which currently I like as it's authentic to it's age, but if I fancied rebuilding the cabinet one day... how the chuff would I get it undone!

[EMwhite]

Be careful with Gorilla glue, not to over apply. It froths up something fierce if you use too much. If you follow the directions, it prescribes wetting each surface; just be careful and do wear gloves, it's not like your grandfather's glue! But it is awesome.