It’s tough to pull off an April Fool’s joke in the age of the blogosphere, because on April 1, everyone’s RSS feeds are saturated with fake news.
So, how do you fool people? With real news that seems outlandish enough to be a joke. It wouldn’t be the first time 4/1 became an auspicious date; Apple, Inc. incorporated as a business on the first of April.
And so, it seemed I got … uh, punked. Because sources close to Asheville tell us that the Moog guitar, teased yesterday in a video, is really coming. A guitar from Moog. You heard that right. (More comments are coming in, leaving no question: it’s real. Oops.) The Moog Music homepage has the video, so maybe someone who knows something about guitars / doesn’t already look like an idiot regarding this story would like to comment?
I just hope Gibson doesn’t sue Moog claiming to have invented sound.
At least this is a 4/1 fake. Right? Isn’t it?
Photo courtesy Matrixsynth @ Flickr; see “New Moog Guitar Related?”
Didn't seem too far fetched to me. Gibson used to make basses with moog electronics in them. Don't think they were much more than filters.
I don't think it was whether it was far-fetched so much as it was the … timing. Anyway, like I said … I got punked.
I want more information on this Moog Guitar, then!
I just hope it comes in a different paint job for those of us who aren't into the whole "pat methany" vibe.
It's seems to be a variation on the Sustainiac. In short it's a six string <a>Ebow.; a device that causes the a guitar string to vibrate buy means of a pulsating magnetic field. Moog is probably adding new circuitry to make the effect more varied and controlled. Maybe they're using some sort of compression circuit as well. Can't wait to try it…
I was just about to say the same thing Chris. Good looking out. Love that 6 string Ebow sound.
i hope it has MIDI.
that headstock screams "parker fly." (the gold hardware screams "RUN AWAY.") ha.
[…] correction on the Moog story. Did I say April Fool’s joke? That may be April Fool’s actual real product announcement. Then again, what’s real? Maybe Moog Music isn’t real, either. […]
Oooh! Peter – you better take that back! I like the look but PatMethany makes me say "AAAAAAAAAANOOOOOOOOOO!". Damn…you ARE right aren't you. Damn. I'll have to spraypaint this thing if I buy it 😉
From the sounds on the video, it would appear to have a "sustainiac" type circuit in it, but I would guess it also has some "moogerfooger" type processing built in also. My GUESS is that the "hook" of the product is that it might have polyphonic processing (separate processing for each string).
I hear tell that it does NOT have MIDI out nor does it have a (Roland) standard 13 pin output to drive a pitch to MIDI converter or a processor (such as the VG-99).
All of my info is based on searching the web and not from any first hand experience, so I could be totally wrong.
Hi Peter, I'm Xabi from Hispasonic. I saw this guitar with my own eyes in a private demonstration at the Musikmesse, so believe me, it's real. It's an electric guitar from Moog 😉
And let me say that there is no "processing" in the guitar. The sound is generated by the guitar itself and its pickups.
Stick a Fernandes Sustainer or a Sustainiac in a rather cheesy looking guitar…hey presto…Moog Guitar.
Gold hardware…eek…says it all for me.
@Aes: keep in mind, this may be a prototype only. (After all, they didn't really even intend for us to see these images, necessarily.) So we'll see.
[…] Moog-Gitarre schein doch kein Aprilscherz gewesen zu sein: laut CDM ist auch genau er wie ich auf das Veröffentlichungsdatum reingefallen. Falls dies nicht eine sehr […]
This is a quote from a guy I know that got to see it in action:
"A week or so back I posted a thread about Moog coming to my small little guitar shop I work at to introduce their new guitar.
Well today was the day. The new guitar has alot of cool features but nothing too unheard of or out of the box. It's very similar to the Fernadez sustainer guitar. The main feature of the guitar is the pickups, that make the strings vibrate on their own. It's kind of like having an ebow on each on off the strings. There is also a feature that makes only the fretted strings vibrate. Along with that, there is another feature that does just the opposite. Instead of the pickups giving the guitar "positive energy" to make the strings vibrate, it can be reversed to give the strings "negative energy". This gives the guitar a muted sound, very much like a banjo to my ears. The guitar connects to an expression pedal via a 5 pin cable and from there turns into a standard 1/4 inch. The guitar also has a cool sounding low pass filter effect built in. It also functions as a normal guitar.
The build of the guitar is top notch. It was really solid and felt nice. The problem is that it's really feakin stupid looking though. It's got a ghey quilt top and looks all fancy, which just isn't for me. I was hoping it would be a big bulky silvertone looking thing. So if there is one thing i really didn't like about the guitar, it's the looks. It looks like something the like you'd see on TGP. Moog doesn't actually make the guitars of course, I can't remember the name of the company that the rep said was building them, but the guitar still has Moog's name on it.
I really didn't think the thing was all that great until i got to play it. You can do the most amazing volume swells for days with this thing . Unless they change the way this thing looks, i really couldn't see myself owning one, especially considering the thousands of dollars it probably cost, but its still freakin cool to play around with.
anyways, Moog is releasing it on their site on April 1st (Don't think it's a joke like the mooger fooger radio thing was) and it should be at summer NAMM.
thank you and goodnight.
Thanks Wilbo.
Well, I had my hopes up for an instrument that had the sustain features and had polyphonic processing (filtering and distortion per string). Well, Sounds like I'll stick with the VG-99 for the time being. This does look cool, though. I'll put it on the "neat but don't NEED it" list.
sounds cool, and i'd be lying if i said i wouldn't buy one. that said, the first thing i would do is spray-paint this thing. seriously fugly – flame, gold hardware, and cheesy inlays? the shape looks disgusting too. hopefully, this design/aesthetic is the april fool's joke. it just roars overpriced boutique poop. it shouldn't even look like a guitar!
Now for the big question…Are they gonna make a Bass guitar? 🙂
[…] Digital Music reports that the Moog guitar was not a mere April Fool’s joke; instead, it was a bizarre meta-April Fool’s joke, in which we are fooled into believing that […]
if this has no midi implementation then it's really disappointing, cause that's what you'd count on Moog excelling at(remember they made the PianoBar?).
anyways i wish the Reason Accordions was the one that wasn't a joke cause the ones in Gypsy are fairly poopy.
I can't find the video anymore. Maybe it was an April fool's after all? Anyone have a link?
FutureMusic posted the Moog Guitar story with pictures taken from the video:
http://futuremusic.com/blog/?p=2648
If you want to check it out. They didn't seem too impressed with the sound either.
I had an early prototype in my hands for 3 months…the release version will do much more.
Trust me: there is a whole lot more to the VO than a Fernandes Sustainer, Ebow or Sustainiac…Wilbo touched on some of it.
I found an organic quality to this instrument that is often lacking in "electronic instruments"…very cool.
More later…
…excuse me! It's now called the "Moog Guitar"
At 6 grand i think i will wait!!!!
So my question is is it worth and are you willing to pay the $5895 they want it to sell for?
The first "Limited Edition" model will sell for $5895.00 the next gen will sell for slightly less.
Remember you cannot customize this guitar in any way. You are stuck with their pick ups, their necks, their tuning machines even their "specified metallurgy designed" strings.
Is the sustain feature worth the price and the closed design? Im curious….