From the Fertile Mind of Moog: Tomorrow’s Axe Debuts at NAMM

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (June 5, 2008) – The much-anticipated and much-talked-about Moog Guitar will debut at Summer NAMM in Nashville. The Moog Guitar is “a fantastic axe designed to be played by the best musicians in the world,” says Moog Music President Mike Adams.

According to Adams, The Moog Guitar opens the guitarist to a whole new musical vocabulary: “It’s not a guitar synthesizer; not a MIDI guitar; not an effects processor,” Adams said. “The guitarist is intimately connected to The Moog Guitar because it works its magic on the strings themselves.” See the attached FAQ for additional details.

The first public demonstration of The Moog Guitar will be at the Moog Guitar Showcase, featuring Kenny Vaughn and Fareed Haque with Garaj Mahal. The Moog Guitar Showcase will take place at Nashville’s renowned 3rd and Lindsley on Friday, June 20 from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. Tickets are $10.

The Moog Guitar will be demonstrated to media at NAMM at a press conference at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 21 in Moog Music’s NAMM Booth 2030.

The first ever Moog Guitar will be the limited edition Paul Vo Collector Edition Guitar. The AAAAA maple top guitar with a mahogany body and ebony finger board will be a much sought-after axe even without the addition of the patented Moog electronics. Each guitar will be individually signed by Moog associate and guitar inventor Paul Vo and will carry a sealed Certificate of Authenticity identifying it as the first ever Moog Guitar.

The Moog Guitar offers three unique modes…Sustain, Mute and Controlled Sustain. In the Sustain mode, it provides infinite, powerful sustain on every string and at every fret position; Mute removes energy from the strings, resulting in a variety of staccato effects; Controlled Sustain allows the musician to play sustained, single-note or even polyphonic lines with strong sustain and effortless clarity. In this mode, the Moog Guitar sustains the notes being played while actively muting the notes not being played.

“Take the powerful combination of sustain and mute…add the ability to move that power between the neck and bridge pick-ups, and suddenly you can pull both subtle and dramatic harmonic blends from the strings,” said Moog Senior Engineer Cyril Lance. The Moog Guitar’s creative power is further enhanced by the built-in Moog ladder filter. Both the harmonic blending as well as the ladder filter are controlled from the included expression pedal, according to Lance.

The late Bob Moog and Adams often spoke of entering the guitar market, but it was not until Vo’s invention that Moog Music felt it had something truly innovative to bring to the guitar market. “Clearly, this guitar meets the definition of a Moog product that Bob ingrained here at Moog Music: A Moog product must be an inspiration to the creative process of making music,” Adams said.

“As one person told me, ‘Only Moog could have done this.’”

For more information and video on The Moog Guitar, visit moogmusic.com. Go to www.moogmusic.com/upload User name: mguitar Password: sustainmute for more photos.