Inspiration of Analogics Expert Woodworker

Wes Taggart of Analogics recently donated a sublimely beautiful black walnut Minimoog cabinet to the Bob Moog Foundation, which is part of our 2016 Minimoog Raffle. Below is his reflection of how he came to devote himself to the restoration of analog synthesizers, and the highly crafted construction of cabinetry for the iconic Minimoog:

In May of 1971 I went to my very first rock concert at the age of 16. Have to confess that I went to see Poco. I still remember that it cost only $4.50. Well, there seemed to be an accounting firm that was headlining the show.

Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.

That seemed to fill me with a passion. I had an Hammond L112 before the end of that summer. I joined my first band about a year later, but something was missing. That *sound* I heard at the concert. I only really knew the name and that it seemingly was the size of a small ‘fridge.

A Moog.

In the winter of ’73, a friend called from a local music store saying someone was trying to sell a Moog because his wife threw it down a flight of stairs due to a dalliance of some sort. I immediately purchased it.

A Minimoog.

It had a broken key and a couple of the PC boards had slipped out of their connectors. It was my first synth repair.

And my first synth.

Almost 30 years later, I have the thrill and honor of owning my own business repairing Moogs and other synthesizers. I have a customer who loves to joke with me, calling as *Keith Emerson*, *Rick Wakeman*, etc… He does pretty unremarkable impersonations. One day I got a call *Hello, this is Bob Moog*. I proceed to call out my friend about his poor impersonation for about 5 minutes before I realize….

It’s Bob Moog.

He had called me because he was looking to find referrals for repairing the legacy instruments because his company in Asheville wasn’t really in the business of repairing them. We had a fun talk about nows and thens, woodworking, the pitch wheel, and a few things I have forgotten, probably because I was talking to

Bob Moog.

The cabinet that is on the Minimoog being raffled for the Bob Moog Foundation is Black Walnut, just as the first 2,000 or so instruments and the last 25. It is manufactured in the same manner as those original instruments, with mortise and tenon joinery (something Bob and I talked about). There are no shadow lines (those little grooves where all the joints occur), just like the originals. The shadow lines are part of the later cabinets because it allows the cabinets to be manufactured with less demanding joinery.

Analogics Minimoog cabinets in a variety of different beautiful woods

I feel the original walnut cabinets represent the pinnacle of what R.A. Moog was all about in the very early 70s. An instrument that even 45+ years on, still represents the vanguard of synth sound in an absolutely beautiful presentation.

Each cabinet I make and synth I restore is a tribute to the man who really started it all for me.

Bob Moog.

Wes Taggart, Halloween 1974, with his first Minimoog.