Remind you of triggers well maintained broom? :D Samples from this instrument and many more available here! :- www.patreon.com/lookmumnocomputer As for the capacitors. currently it is part of a display of dismantled items from 1930-60's electronic tech, so having the old capacitors in it makes more sense, than recapping now.... then in a year or so maybe ill re cap them. Restuffing caps is a faff ha. but hopefully it makes more sense that in this case for this machine right now it makes sense not to remove those caps, as it would make kids think those poly caps had been around forever.
When some guy in a shop of curios shouts at you that they have something you might be interested in, be sure to check later that the shop in question is still there and hasnt mysteriously vanished in mystic smoke.
The equivalent modern capacitors will probably be a lot smaller, so you could carefully remove the covers from the original ones, and place them over the new ones? A silicone o ring near the base of the cap should keep the old covers in place nicely. You’d have to use caps with a pretty high heat rating though, because the extra casing around them would stop them cooling properly.
On the topic of restuffing I recently came across this while looking into the repair of a 1950-60? Marconi Watt meter (and yes I fixed it!) www.radiomuseum.co.uk/stuff.html Looks a lot more efficient that trying to stuff a modern axial into the paper case. Maybe this is a common technique? I'm not really into radio restoration...
I repair antique radios, and what i usually do - if i am planning to use the thing - is to put all the old caps into a little bag and keep it somewhere inside of the cabinet. Although there will always be solder marks, a historian 100 years later would still be able to re-construct the device the way it was when it left the factory, and see the quality (or lack thereof) of the old components. It's always a bit hard to decide whether to keep it as a museum piece in factory condition, or to refurbish the thing so it can actually be used safely. This is the compromise i choose. For those who wonder about why exactly those caps have to be replaced: capacitors normally block 100% of all direct current. The old paper-wax caps, however, start to leak current. This will cause the tubes to draw more power, which can burn them up quickly, or if you're particularly unlucky burn out the transformer. Also when they're accross a power rail, they can short out the rail, or blow themselves up. The warmer the caps get, the more they leak. It is a nasty feedback loop. The wax caps are always bad, i have literally never seen one that doesn't leak electrically. Tar encapsulated ones are bad in 80% of cases. The ones used in a british made Wireless Set 19 were all good - all measured over 50Mohm of leakage resistance, which is not significant. For electrolytics, things can get worse. They can squirt corrosive liquid all over the internals, and also overload power rails which can roast the transformer and rectifier. But depending on the exact brand and type, they may very well be perfectly usable. Considering the Univox doesn't hum, i would simply check if there's any leakage current, and if it's below 1mA keep them in circuit. The ones in 1945-1955 Philips radios are usable in 50% of cases, the ones from the 60s in almost 90% of cases, some with less leakage than a modern similar capacitor.
New bit of knowledge for me. As for keeping the parts to restore to factory in the future, thats a brilliant idea. I'll have to keep that in mind if I ever come across older hardware I want to restore
maan dude.. right? just the fact that these strange new machine thingys like radio.. tv.. and other gear.. could play audio, was so alien to the general public for such a long time
Imagine you two on a time machine to 1957, recording one album, coming back to the 21st and finding a 1980s magazine interview of Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider saying your record had been the biggest influence for Kraftwerk.
I love the fact that local shop owners know that you like old electronics. I had a local shop owner contact me about an old Gulbransen drum machine. I bought it in a second because the price was $50 and that money is going back into the local economy. Easy decision to make. As for recapping old electronics I mean, if it's living again, if you're using it in your music, then what's the big deal? You're keeping it out of a landfill and giving it a second life. I just don't see how that's a bad thing. Functionality trumps "Oh I can point at it and say 'That's original!'" any day of the week. Nice jam with Hainbach! Glad to see you guys getting together in these difficult times when no one can see each other. Great video as always.
cool on the drum machine !! like i said the purpose of the synth right now is a display in a museum, it can get recapped anytime, but toi show electronic tech of the 50's a display of a recapped univox isnt quite that!
that jam with heinbach was epic, also the style of both musicians coming through... like autism/industrygeek laying the slow low and the adhd/oldjunkman smashing the hyper solo! EPIC
The modern variant and masterpiece IMHO is the Knifonium. I'm traveling and have it with me. I can't stand to be without it. 25 tubes and the most expressive and rich synth I've ever heard. LMNO, if you get to America and wold like to borrow the Knif for a stint, I would be happy to hear you enjoying it. One of your best videos!
The internals are bloody beautiful on this. Love those tubes. Was really surprised at how tidy and clean the speaker cab was inside, was expecting a spaghetti load of components and wire, like you see on some 40s-50s electronics. This thing was miles ahead of it's time.
Glad that gent got your attention! This is an amazing find. Also glad you don't seem to ascribe to the "ZOMG EVERYTHING MUST STAY THE SAME FOREVER EVEN IF IT EXPLODES!" restoration policy. You and Paul Carlson finally got me on to Patreon, and I couldn't be happier with how the money's being used. 👍
So good to see some people taking care of old instruments whether mechanical electrical or just whatever and they're not sitting in some dumpsite rotting away great video can't wait to see we come up with next
This is absolutely awesome, I clicked to watch because I thought it was the exact instrument Joe Meek played on Telstar.... also happens to be the very first British number one in the US.
WOW. I see the diagram for the 2N3904 NPN transistor in the background. It just blows my mind that these transistors are still being used to this day. I mean the 2N3904 came into the world about 56 years ago. WOW ! But then again, the wheel has been around for quite some time as well, and no one has been trying to turn that into being obsolete.
3:25 That's interesting. In this case, it's actually used as aftertouch with a resolution of a single bit. But it's exactly how normal velocity works in modern keyboards. At least in the ones that I opened and repaired. A microcontroller is measuring the time between closing both contacts and can then calculate the speed, aka velocity, with which the key was pressed down.
What a remarkable sound! Especially when it clips to modern wave forms....to think this was a 50s instrument especially! Really a surprisingly visionary instrument, honestly.
The clavioline sounds cool as fuck, too. Late 40s. Famous for Telstar, Baby You're a Rich Man, and as a heavily modified, awesome sounding abomination, a lot of Del Shannon songs (Runaway being the most famous)
Fun fact about those old capacitors, using them more is likely to save them, compared to letting them dry out completely and go fizz. Also, power the machine up with a variable power supply, at a lower voltage and increase it in increments if you want to be gentle on them.
I found one of these on Preston Market, could not believe what I was seeing, looked like an old valve radio with a keyboard, rather special as the keys were bevelled, but most of them had fallen in.... badly wanted it....I ended up buying a 1963 Selmer Clavioline Concert Reverb for £100 with stand and some photocopied instructions with a list of sounds. I had it recapped etc, but pretty soon keys started popping out....I managed to get some recording done with it and attempted to sample it. They sound great put through a phaser! The sub oscillators are great. Loads of different sound combinations of filters, and a slow and fast attack. The vibrato effects not as pronounced as on some earlier models. I bought a service manual and a potted history book from a Byron Elwood in Derbyshire who collects these instruments and has a great website too. You've probably found it already. Mine still needs a bit of work unfortunately, repairs are rather costly.
Before watching this video, I thought synthesizers came out in the 70's & aftertouch in the 90's. Apparently not then! Great work restoring this vintage instrument. Your charisma is out of this world, by the way!
You can do what's called "cap restuffing" where you gut the old capacitors and hide new parts inside. It's a good way to make something look museum quality and be functional too.
indeed! i ended up editing that bit out, and yeah when i have time id do that. but if i was to do it for this vid id just have ripped em out and popped new ones in. :D
For those who are into this kind of thing, check out the great restoration and performance work that Wally De Backer (Gotye, The. Basics) is doing with the Ondioline!
Lol screw the people talking bad about restoring your stuff man you paid for it it’s yours you could set it on fire if you really wanted to! Thanks for all the entertainment man love your work!
I was working on an old movie projector from the 50s a while back and a giant capacitor that was hooked up to the motor straight up exploded when I had my eye right up against the lens. It was such a loud bang that I had tinnitus in one ear for a few hours after.
Man - I wish I could play some Cyberpunk 2077 right now. Love that game. And now I'm here getting the coolest music imaginable for such a game. Keep on the great work. Love your videos. Stay safe.
A little minor correction. All electric organs are synths, and all air powered organs with more than 1 stop are also synths, especially the big ones with many pipes meant to sound like other instruments like flutes or trumpets.
Tubes my world, awesome vid! Also worry about the power electrolyte’s but these you can reform. 2 outcomes are possible or they die while reforming or they come back up to spec. If the capacitors have leakage means they have dc leakage this you can measure just measure behind the cap and if you measure just 1 volt dc than it is broken. If it is a number something like 0,01vdc than they are good. And if they survived 60 years than they wont break now. Good luck! I restore everything tube and audio related, coils transformers everything if you need help just let me know. Cheers!
That thing sounds amazing. Looks amazing too, on the inside... nothing cooler than vacuum tubes and crusty vintage components. I've always wished synths had clear enclosures so you could admire their pretty circuitry without having to take them apart.
Very cool. I fix/repair old electronics too.... and if it's just for display, leaving it be is fine... if it's going to be played, then service is going to be needed. I know that dilemma.
Awesome to see this! I have one that I'm half way through restoring. It's the Concert Grand model with two rows of tone switches. I'll put up a vid so you can compare (might not be for a couple of months!) All the best with it Sam :)
Basta Music in the Netherlands released an album of mine with this synth serving as the main body of gear used. Look up 'Chick Vekters - Travelogue' on here if you're interested in hearing more of this great machine in action. Great video btw Sam!
