I don’t usually post about combo organ repairs because I don’t think they’re very interesting, but this was one of the weirdest ones we’ve ever done! The owner of this Vox Jaguar organ told us that he had had it for about 10 years and it had never made sound at all, which didn’t really faze us because that is a common complaint for a piece of equipment this old.  But when he dropped it off, we opened it up and discovered the reason that it wasn’t making sound was far more serious, and far more crazy, than we had expected. The tone filter and selection board, including the switch contacts, was missing ENTIRELY. The rocker switches were all present, but connected to nothing. The signals from the oscillator/divider boards were simply not being sent anywhere at all. Continue reading “Vox Jaguar with Missing Filter/Switch PCB”

I worked on this Korg Trident shortly after it had been serviced by a well respected tech, but it had been shipped home to Philadelphia and was unfortunately damaged in transit… a tragic event considering it was in great condition and was apparently working perfectly. The owner repaired the physical damage to the wood end pieces but took it to us because the manual controls and the piano / clavinet presets for the synthesizer section were inoperable. Continue reading “Korg Trident MKI”

We’re on vacation until June 25! I will be doing my best to answer emails, but won’t be able to work or have pickups/drop-offs until we get back. See you then.

Hi friends… So after 7 years of working on synths, I’m transitioning to doing this full time and I’ve decided to start blogging about my repairs in the hope that some of my advice might help other people on their synth repair projects! I always take notes on my repairs, so I figured I might as well flesh them out a bit more and share them here.

My focus will be on sharing less-than-obvious practical advice pertaining to the idiosyncrasies of certain synths (desoldering temperatures, part substitutions, where to get specific parts, etc) that I figured out through trial-and-error, so that maybe I can help someone else avoid the “error” part of the process. The internet has been a great resource for me throughout my time spent working on electronics, and I’d like to give back by helping out the next person who does a google search for “help arp omni traces ripping off help help help nooooo whyyyyy.”

Of course– I’m running a business so I’m also trying to connect with clients, so I’d be remiss not to say here now— if you have any analog or vintage synths, combo organs or Rhodes/Wurlitzer pianos in need of a little help, please get in touch!