Minimoog back to playing shape.

[Richie]

I have a Minimoog from around 1976 that has sat unplayed for about 30 years. I tried it out about a year ago and when you hit a key the note wanders all over the place. Some keys seem better than evers. I have seen on-line that the key contacts probably need cleaning. The Minimoog service manual says to clean them with isopropyl alcohol. Any advice on how to go about it? Also are there any other maintenance things I should be doing? The controls all seem to work.
I apologize if this topic has already been discussed, but it's hard to wade through all the topics to try to find one.

[Richie]

Well, I couldn't wait any longer for someone to reply. I got some isopropyl alcohol and some Q tips and i started in. I soon found out that the Q-tips worked for the single wire, but wouldn't fit in between the double wire. I got a tooth brush and used that instead. I plugged it in and tried it out. It seemed better, but there were still quite a few notes that wandered all over the place. I looked at the service manual and it said to use a soft pencil eraser. I tried that and the wires looked shinier. It wouldn't fit at the ends of the space for every 4 keys, so I cut one in half to use on the ends. I tried it out and it was a lot better. There were only a few keys that still wandered. But on one of the C's right in the middle there was no sound at all.I took a look and one of the springs was broken! I thought now I'm in big trouble. I decided to remove the keyboard and try to solder it. I'm not the world's greatest solderer, but I thought I have nothing to lose at this point. If this didn't work I could always send it to someone to fix it. $$$! I thought it would be hard to align the ends of the spring, but I blocked the key so the ends lined up and I got it soldered. I also hit two more that looked to be hanging on by a thread. I put the keyboard back in turned it on and crossed my fingers. All of the keys worked!! I was really happy. There are a few keys that still act up. I plan on hitting the problem ones again, but this time I will be much more careful about the springs. The rest of the controls seem to be working and don't seem to be noisy. I've rotated the knobs a few times and plan on doing that some more. If I can get all the keys working, I think with a little tuning it may be good enough for me.

[ummagumma]

nice!

post some pics ! would be great to see, and also a good resource for others in the same predic

[Analog Prophet]

Great story! I have a friend who bought a Model D with the same isuue, did the same and then it worked for years until he sold it (and probably still working).

[Richie]

If I had to do it over, I would skip the Q-tips and just use the pencil erasers. On one that wasn't so badly tarnished, maybe the Q-tips would work. I would use the eraser but would be more careful around the springs. I'm very happy I got my Minimoog back to playing like it should. Oscillator 3 is a little out of tune when set to zero, but that's not a big deal. I will try to adjust the tuning sometime. All the other controls seem to be working. I thought maybe some parts would have to be replaced, but so far so good.