(L to R) Kenny Vaughan, Paul Vo, Moog Music
President Mike Adams and Fareed Haque hang out
at the Moog Guitar Showcase at Summer NAMM
strings. The interaction is electromagnetic, but
also different than the interaction of pickups or
sustainers. When Vo Power is applied positively,
the string sustain is very powerful and very
responsive. When the Vo Power is reversed,
power to the string stops very quickly giving a
staccato effect to our guitar (similar to a banjo
or koto).
Why does it need special strings?
The Moog Guitar strings have a different metallic
content than most strings, more responsive to
the way our pickups use electromagnetism. In an
emergency situation, most metallic guitar strings
will still work but they will not be as responsive
and you may need to dial back Vo Power a
bit for them to work correctly. Bottom line: an
ordinary string will get you through the night in
an emergency, but you’ll want to use our Moog
Strings.
Is the dark voicing of the standard guitar
mode a choice or a function of making the
pickups work as sustainers?
It’s more a matter of choice. Initially some people thought the pickups were too brash so we
dialed them back somewhat. Having said that,
just as single-coil pickups have a certain sound
and humbuckers a different sound, these pickups
have their own characteristic Moog tone. And
this is a guitar that we’d expect to be used with
various floor effects; the darker tuning is better
for driving those effects.
Could the pickups work with a battery? And
could a version like that without the pedal and
filters be made for those who just want the
sustaining capabilities and don’t want to be
tied to a special cable?
Batteries are a possibility, however there are
trade-offs. If we use batteries, they would have
to be high energy – the type typically found in
laptops – so that would add weight. Given my
dislike of wires I am motivated, so the possibility is something I will be considering as battery
technology continues to improve.
string. Not having to hold the sustain device
in my right hand opened a whole new world
of sonic madness; it left the picking hand free
to manipulate the whammy bar, or control
keyboards, whether belonging to synthesizers
or laptops. I could suddenly wring more effects
out of devices like the Source Audio Hot Hand
series – the notes continuing indefinitely while
I waved around the remote ring. I could easily
control either Source Audio’s dedicated effects
or (through their control voltage output) the
Moog’s filters. Eliminating the need to retrig-ger notes or chords by strumming or picking
the Moog freed me to make use of a Korg
Kaoss effect’s X/Y pad, without having to use
its looping function.
This is an instrument that cries out for processing. The standard pickup sound responds
well to everything from chorus to compression. In the sustain modes just a bit of delay
may be all you need, but it is hard to resist
plugging into a DAW and slathering the
Moog’s lingering chords with plug-ins providing everything from moving filters to spectral
and granular mangling.
My favorite effect, however, proved to be right
in the instrument itself. When using an EBow
I always found the harmonic octave jumps
hard to predict; with the Moog those jumps
are completely under pedal or knob control. I
found that changing the harmonic balance of
either sustaining chords or single notes injected an incredible level of emotional expression
into my playing.
What I was completely unprepared for was the
joy of the muting effect. Employing this effect
with the pickups set out of phase, I achieved a
terrific electric sitar sound. Setting the pickups
in phase created a banjo sound in open position and mandolin-type tones when playing
further up the neck.
Looking Ahead
With its mid-four-figures price point, the Moog
will be out of reach of many (an offshore version is already being discussed). But if you are
serious about guitar experimentation you may
need to find the financing. The Moog Guitar
is one of those technological advances that
will require new leaps of imagination from
its adopters. Sure, it can do some things you
have heard before, from EBows and modeling
guitars (albeit better and more easily), but its
true importance will be revealed in the years to
come when groundbreaking guitarists discover
applications for it that help create music that
sounds like nothing we have ever heard.
