Thoughts for the day...

In no particular order:

• We're almost out of CA3080's. I think I have one left to put up on eBay.


• When you are no longer able to provide people with what they want, you find out who your true friends are.


• That monster of an Oberheim 8 voice is finally out of my house. That was a nightmare which only served to make me more jaded about the synth world.


• Even though life is a bit rough right now, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

A Tribute

This picture was taken about 20 years ago. That's me on the left, obviously. :)
The old man next to me is my paternal Grandfather, Luís Adame. Behind him is eldest living son, my Daddy.



Why post this here? Read on:
Grandpa got into electronics in 1930, at the age of 15, when he saved up 75 cents to buy a crystal to make a radio.
Then he had to save up another 75 cents to buy an antenna for it. :)
That started an interest and later a living from fixing electronics (TV's, radios, etc.). He was into CB Radio when I was little, too. I remember seeing his test equipment and CB stuff as a kid and being fascinated by it.

So when I met Synthfool on AOL 13+ years ago and first saw his shop, that fascination was sparked again. And some DNA kicked in after a few years, and here I am today, happily upgrading components on vintage synth circuit boards and rebushing keyboards.

Grandpa was pleased by the fact that one of his Grandchildren shared his interest in electronics, and he told my Dad once that he was impressed that I know what I diode is. :) I have his soldering iron, which I will treasure forever.

Grandpa turned 94 three days before he died, so he had a long, good life full of love and laughter. We should all be so lucky.

Fun w/an Ody!

Click here to see a video of me playing around with a white Ody in mid-restoration.
(Though y'know, I've been wanting to re-label what we do as "rebuilding" as opposed to "restoring," 'cause it seems to be a more accurate term. Or at least there seems to be a bit of a variation about what "restoring" a synth entails.)


The 2600 keyboard cables are up on eBay, along with a bunch of other stuff.
If you buy anything from my auctions and mention that you saw this post, I'll include some Moog or Arp vinyl stickers with your order! :)

The Last System 700 video from the earlier series...

Click here for the video

Another System 700 video. :)

This time I'm hosting it on my server, 'cause I got the wrong kind of attention when I posted the last video on YouTube.

Again, I'm not a synthesist nor a musician... just havin' a little fun with something I had a hand in restoring. :)

Another video

This time it's me & 1 cabinet of a Roland System 700

Work pics

I put a few pics on my Facebook account of what I've been doing lately. (Check the labels of this post for hints!)

Workstation pic

My setup for changing caps on circuit boards:

Workspace

Last week, I did my first cleaning/rebushing job on a Minimoog keyboard in many, many moons.
I decided to take a picture of how I like like to set my work space up when I do this.

1. Two trash bags spread out. One to keep the keybed on, and one to put the keys on while they're being cleaned


2. Soft mallet to help remove stubborn keys from keybed


3. Special tool for the springs


4. Screwdriver for tightening key screws. (I actually used a 1/4, which is a size bigger than in this picture.)


5. Old wire cutters for removing stubborn bushings


6. Pliers, just in case


7. iPod, for making work more enjoyable


8. Cotton swabs, for various cleaning uses


9. Glass cleaner, for cleaning the keytops


10. Simple green, for cleaning the metal part of the keys


11. Glass jar with lid for little dome thingies (I leave cleaning these up to my husband.)


12. Bin to put springs in


13. Old cotton t-shirt for cleaning keytops

The family that patches together, pt. 2

Yep, my hair's multicolored and a mess. Hey, I was in my jammies! :)

My first encounter with a Roland System 100m

The file date for this one was 5/28/1997. This is a 4 cabinet Roland System 100m that entered the place not too long after the System 700 left and about the same time as our cat Obie did. It was definitely less intimidating than the 700 was, but I remember having a blast with the envelope generators. Possibly the filters, too.

I don't know what happened to the original picture, but here's some fun I had with Photoshop back then--



Got another one to post tomorrow.

My new Moog shirt

Nick from the Volt Per Octaves stopped by while I was at Faire on Saturday. He picked up his Minimoog and left me a shirt. Like it? :)