Test Shred: The Moog Guitar

Tech's gift to musicians? Quite possibly. Watch as PopSci gets its callused fingers on the guitar that may just revolutionize music

By PopSci Staff Posted 10.14.2008 at 2:18 pm 5 Comments

In the September issue of Popular Science, Mike Kobrin reviewed the Moog guitar—an incredible instrument whose electromagnet pickups actually change the string's motion. Stick it in "mute" mode and you're playing a banjo; turn on "sustain" and it holds notes indefinitely. It turns out, however that writing and reading about the guitar can never be quite adequate. So Kobrin sat down and filmed it in action. Rock on, after the jump.

Previous Article: The Mouse That Runs Anywhere

Next Article: Now Seating Everyone

Want the latest news on grown-up toys and gadgets, product reviews, sneak peeks, and more? Subscribe to Popular Science and enter to win $5,000!

5 Comments

link to this comment

Ian1108

10/14/08 at 5:21 pm

Finger tapping solos would be insane on that thing, Eddie Van Halen should play one.

link to this comment

Deco

from Sao Paulo, SP

10/16/08 at 1:56 pm

I would rather get the Robot Gibson... for now.

Though I agree the sustain sounds nice.

Dude your tempo is off :P

link to this comment

musiclifeline

10/16/08 at 5:09 pm

Finger tapping is repetitively percussive enough that a player wouldn't really feel the effects of the sustain... Applying the Moog filter (yeah, I misspoke in the video when I called it a "synth") would make that style scream though.

Yeah, my tempo's off -- I got wrapped up in the guitar itself more than the music I was playing. I'll stick to trumpet from now on. :p

link to this comment

vinyltiger

10/19/08 at 9:09 am

Why did it take nearly 40 years for them to come up with this? I was first aware of the Moog with my purchase of the "Switched On Bach" album back in 1969.

link to this comment

El_Dahveed

10/20/08 at 5:34 pm

The guitar sounds great! But I'm not too big on the price. But it'll probably be cheaper then buying all the individual instruments to replicate the sounds it can make.