Repair of Iconic ’60s Era Synthesizer Turns into Long, Strange Trip for Engineer

Interesting story... almost a time traveling experience. I studied music and technology in college. Our music lab had some old 60’s and 70’s experimental music equipment and they were always fun to play.

I was the lab tech for a semester and had a key to the lab. Occasionally, after a night of imbibing, my friends and I would go to the lab and turn on all the workstations and arrange some very large pieces. Looking back, I wish we had hit record and taken some of that work with us. Back then though everything was in the moment for me.

It would have been pretty crazy if any of those machines had been dipped! What a trip.

> He sprayed a cleaning solvent on it and started to push the dissolving crystal with his finger as he attempted to dislodge the residue and clean the area.

> About 45 minutes later, Curtis began to feel a little strange. He described it as a weird, tingling sensation. He discovered this was the feeling of the beginnings of an LSD experience or trip.

LSD is extremely potent as far as drugs go. Doses are measured in micrograms. Tylenol doses are measured in hundreds of milligrams. Many prescription drug doses are measured in tens of milligrams. As such, LSD is orders of magnitude more active than the drugs most people have experience with.

At that level of activity, both dermal absorption via solution with cleaning fluid penetrating gloves, and inhalation of particles could be viable routes of entry.

I believe it was Abbie Hoffman who in one book advocated preparing a solution of LSD in DMSO for use as a weapon in demonstrations to pacify police. DMSO readily penetrates skin, so a solution of it containing LSD is plausible as a way to dose it. No idea whether it actually works.

And the Dead Kennedys wrote a song about it that appeared on Bedtime For Democracy... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2M_fQnVqew

I own about a dozen 25-40 year old analog synths. It’s not quite as difficult as it sounds. Replacing jacks and button panels and switches and pots is straightforward soldering (it also helps that all the pads and traces are much larger and chunkier than modern gear), and anything more involved is not too expensive from various shops that specialize.

I certainly don’t recommend moving them unnecessarily or traveling/touring with them, though. They’re fragile.

The Bay Area is also home to MIDI co-inventor Dave Smith and his hardware synth company Sequential. You can see his office and generous collection of synths from the street, if you roam around San Francisco's North Beach long enough.