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Moog Music introduces The MOOG Guitar

After many years after reinventing the synthesizers, Moog Music wants to reinvent the electric guitar! The MOOG Guitar is a much-anticipated and much-talked-about innovative audio instrument that 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.

The Moog Guitar puts revolutionary new technology in the hands of the guitarist. Moog Music is known for building the finest instruments and the Moog Guitar is first and foremost a very fine guitar; designed to be played by the best musicians as their primary axe. Its AAAAA maple top, mahogany body and ebony finger board bespeak the quality that musicians have come to expect from a Moog instrument.

The addition of Moog Guitar Electronics opens guitarists to a whole new musical vocabulary: Not a guitar synthesizer, not a MIDI guitar or an effects processor; players are intimately connected to The Moog Guitar because it works its magic on the strings themselves.

Wath a MOOG Guitar video:

The MOOG Guitar Features:

FULL SUSTAIN MODE - like no other sustainer; infinite sustain on every string, at every fret position and at any volume. You may have heard sustain before but not with this power (we call it “Vo Power”) and clarity.
CONTROLLED SUSTAIN MODE - allows you to play sustained single or polyphonic lines without muting technique. The Moog Guitar sustains the notes you are playing while actively muting the strings you are not playing.
MUTE MODE - removes energy from the strings, resulting in a variety of staccato articulations. The mute mode has never been heard on any other guitar; the Vo Power stops the strings with the same intensity that it sustains them. You feel the instrument transform in your hands.
HARMONIC BLENDS - use the included foot pedal to shift the positive energy of Vo Power in Sustain mode and the subtractive force of Vo Power in Mute mode between the bridge and neck pick-ups to pull both subtle and dramatic harmonics from the strings.
MOOG FILTER - control the frequency of the built-in, resonant Moog ladder filter using the foot pedal or a CV Input.

The MOOG Guitar Controls:
There are five buttons:

Vo Power this is the amount of coherent power that is applied to the strings to either sustain or mute them.
Piezo Blend blends the piezo output with the Moog pick-ups.
Harmonic Balance shifts the Vo Power (sustain/mute) power between the neck and bridge pick-up. In the center position the power is balanced between the neck and bridge.
Master Volume controls overall volume including both the Moog Pick-up output as well as the piezos.
Tone/Filter controls both tone and the resonance of the Moog ladder filter dependent upon the position of the Filter Mode Toggle switch.

and three switches:

Moog Guitar Mode determines the application of the Vo Power. There are three positions: Sustain, Controlled Sustain, and Mute
Filter Mode Toggle with three positions: Standard Guitar Tone, an articulated Moog filter (e.g similar to an auto-wah), and classic Moog Ladder filter
Five Position Pick-up Selector Switch: Piezo, Bridge only, Out of Phase, In Phase, Neck only.
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.

The MOOG Guitar - Paul Vo Collector Edition will be launched at Summer NAMM 2008 and has a MSRP price of $6,495 USD.

More info and demos: Moog Music