Lot of 9 Moog Synthesizer Factory Service Manuals; Original, complete 1977-79

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"'Eight of these nine manuals are in original bindings, not photocopies. Seven of them are in 'pristine' condition, but will have occasional (and helpful) handwritten annotations by the Moog Custom Engineering team (including myself) circa 1978-1979. One of them (MicroMoog/MultiMoog) is a little more well-used than the others, but still excellent! All manuals are 100% complete with no torn or missing pages. Two original Moog logo'd 3-ring binders are in perfect condition. These manuals were retired from service and sold to me in Moog's Buffalo, NY Custom Engineering Lab as part of our annual refresh cycle when they were replaced with newer revisions in late-1979. As such, they were only used for a year or two and have been carefully preserved by me for the last 39 years.'

Seeing beat-up copies of a single Minimoog service manuals priced at hundreds of dollars, it's hard to guess what these are worth. I'm having no small amount of emotional turmoil in deciding to sell these, the quicker they are gone the better!

Please read my description and make an offer.

History: During the years I worked in factory test/tune and in the Custom Engineering group for Moog Music in Buffalo, NY, the company would hold a (more or less) annual sale of unused, retired or otherwise un-needed equipment, parts and documentation. I bought these manuals shortly before leaving Moog to go back to school to get my E.E. degree. At the time, I'd planned to (someday) go to work repairing electronic musical instruments.

It never happened...and now 39 years later, it's never going to happen!

These manuals are certainly collector's items, but would also be a great asset to an enterprising individual looking to get started repairing vintage Moog synthesizers, or to an owner/performer needing to ensure the long-term serviceability of their gear.

Like all of Moog's EXCELLENT service manuals, each product is covered in great detail, including the best CIRCUIT DESCRIPTIONS I have seen in my 45 years in electronics, IT and engineering roles. Of special note is the circuit description for Bob Moog's voltage-controlled "Ladder Filter", which enthusiasts already know is the source of the famous and still never duplicated FAT Moog sound. In these circuit descriptions, you'll also learn the secret of Moog's incredibly pure white noise source (yes...it really is based in quantum physics), and many other examples of the myriad things that analog circuits can do that digital circuits cannot.

Because many of Bob Moog's best designs relied on intrinsic and subtle characteristics of the semiconductor components he used, fixing a Moog synthesizer is rarely just an exercise in replacing a failed transistor. Many components were hand selected, in some cases only 10-20 percent of off-the-shelf components we bought would 'sound right'. Among my first jobs as a rookie at Moog was "listening to diodes". No, I'm not kidding. Anyway, not to worry, all the secrets (including temperature-tuning the VCOs) are in here!

There are many tricks that Bob Moog used that are (to this day) still not taught in a standard Electrical Engineering curriculum. Among the most valuable lessons I learned from Moog was to develop an intuitive sense around what can be done in the world of analog electronics. Moog's Ladder Filter (Pat. 3,465,623) earned him a place in the National Inventor's Hall of Fame. If you look at his circuit without reading the circuit description, and understand what's going on you can consider yourself a genius (at least in my book).

If you have questions about a Moog product not covered in this set, please send me a message. Even if your Moog is not in here, the circuits are likely to be described in one or more of these manuals.

I have a number of other auctions coming up for my collection of cool stuff from my time at Moog...stay tuned."