With the latest of wave of orders shipped, I've got quite a few things in the works now. I've modeled and cut prototypes on a few new panels: Korg MS-20 / MS-10 / VC-10: Even played around with making a Tuxedo version like the old Les Pauls: black paint on maple: Sequential Sixtrak: ARP Omni: Solina Case has made it through the first round of modeling: Minibrute chop case I'm calling Skinibrute is in the conceptual stage: The Bourns PTL adapters for ARP CTS sliders have been installed and tested. Should be ready to order in a few days. Finally, an ARP Omni / Omni 2 Midi Interface has been designed, code has been written, PIC burned, and bread-boarding is...
On Jan 17 2016, USPS hiked the hell out of their rates. The average rate on First Class international packages went up more than 20%. Some routes almost doubled in price. With record low oil prices...go figure. Anyway, since USPS First Class is still the cheapest / most reasonable way to ship under 4 lbs globally...those new rates will be reflected in my international shipping fees. I wish there was a better way!
Knowing all too well from having serviced quite a few ARPs, it's a daunting task having to restore the CTS slide potentiometers. If the carbon element is in decent shape, then it is doable: desolder, fight the little twisted side tabs to get the rounded shape out of the square hole, carefully pry open without breaking the brittle molded tab retainers, open and clean out the gunk, relube, reassemble, reinstall, and resolder. Then repeat, 15, 25, maybe 30 odd times depending on the synth. It's ruthless! Having heard the idea proposed before, I decided to make my own PCBs to serve as adapters to fit modern Bourns PTL sliders into the CTS spots on the original ARP PCBs. The PTL series...
Orders are picking up, so prototyping has slowed down some. But, in the queue this week are panels for the Moog Phatty, specifically the Little Phatty Stage 2 and Sub Phatty. Phatty prototypes have been cut and fitted, and they look great. These have a pretty unique and very recognizable profile. Included with the Phatty wood panels will be an aluminum jack plate. I haven't decided on how to label it yet. Silk screening for such a small run is cost prohibitive. I'll probably leave the panel non-labeled, but include an aluminum sticker that can be applied. This gives the user the option to either use the sticker, or have the panel screened. Still have to figure this out. Juno 6/60 panels have gone...
I've made a bit more progress on the Moog Rogue / MG-1 panels. Despite their rather conservative looks, these are actually somewhat complicated end caps. Replacing molded plastic with wood presents several challenges, with thickness often becoming an issue. Wood needs a certain thickness to maintain stability and rigidity. As a result, simply producing a 3D copy of the original panel doesn't suffice. For example, these Moog panels feature interior cutouts and side overhangs that leave a small sliver of plastic on the originals. In order to achieve this in wood, you've got to make things either thicker, or shorter in one dimension, or both. Often, the most logical solution is to make the side panel thicker. But, if not...
