November 1, 2008

Unearthing Greatness


In the last trade I did, I ended up with 2 modules that seem to be very early examples. The first is a 292B labeled "Prototype" on tha back of the panel. It's written in pencil, funny enough. This one worked well and matches the 292B I already had here.


The front panel was dirty, I had to take all the parts off to clean it up.




The other, a beat up old 207, has "Model" on an orange sticker, stuck to the back of the panel. I believe this means that Don built this up for the assemblers to use a reference while they were hammering them out. This thing had a few broken sliders, so I decided to replace all of them, since I was ordering a set for the 207 I was building from scratch. Synth Restore in the UK has re-manufactured sliders for ARP synths, and these were CTS too, so they work for Buchla stuff. To my horror, the inside of this thing was filthy! Balls of hair at the top and bottom of each slider and crumbs were everywhere.


I took out the sliders and blew out the crap to get started.


The sliders went in really nice and even though the shafts are shorter than Buchla used, they look great. Now, I just have to finish his buddy...

3 comments:

Get Loose said...

These sliders look like 45mm travel, wouldn't another manufacturer work as a substitute?

What kind of audio jacks did buchla use? Are they switchcraft 1/8"?

Thanks for this great resource. Would love to learn more (and hear more!) about the different wave shapers on the 259 Complex VCO.

mark verbos said...

The sliders are 45mm. The problem is that the body is taller than any other brand and the shaft is longer as well. These clones work great for now. After this source dries up, I'd consider building a sub PCB with some ALPS sliders on it that mounts in the original bracket holes with standoffs.

The 1/8" jacks are switchcraft.

Jason R. Butcher said...

I'm curious - does the "model" 207 have the resistor kluge on the back? From the photo it appears all the resistors are in their intended locations. If it doesn't have the kluge - have you experienced any crosstalk?