I am the tech Ryan speaks of. I'm in possession of this panel kit. It was
received along with a completed three panel Serge, also of 1973 vintage,
here for repair and was shipped to me by the individual Ryan purchased the
unit from. This panel is Ryan's, not mine - I can't assist in the sale
negotiation, but can offer a pretty good description:
This panel appears to be of the original 1973 vintage and has two 4x4
programmers, a gate sequencer and either a positive or negative slew (PCBA
marked R 9 in the etching). The boards are fully assembled, already mounted
to the rails and appear to be in great condition. Wires have been attached
to all nodes on the boards themselves. Each wire has been labeled but have
not yet been wired to the faceplate jacks. The wires are tin plated
stranded 22 gauge which when stripped of their insulation appear to be clean
and free of oxidation. The panel has its original Serge metal
faceplate, an aluminum chassis box which seems to be relatively new, and
the original assembly instructions but does NOT have the paper faceplates.
However, I do have access to this art and can easily make a new set of paper
plates for it - they will have to be trimmed to size however. The kit has
all it's required banana jacks - which have not yet been mounted to the
faceplate. The kit does not come with the original Serge type knobs
(pre-Davies type), but does have subs which while not OEM, are attractive
and in perfect condition.
In that this panel is of the original Serge format, all the pots are board
mounted, already installed onto the boards and of the 1/8th inch dia - long
shaft type. The kit also has the nylon inserts Serge used to use to take
the slop from the pot shafts through the large clearance holes on the panel
itself.
New from STS (assembled, in a metal chassis and with metal faceplates), this
panel would run over $1650 for the programmers alone. Obviously, the Slew
and Gate Sequencer are no longer available through STS and therefor can't be
included in the this price estimation.
For those of you who have not assembled a Serge kit - it's a snap. The
instructions are excellent and require only that the paper faceplates be
mounted onto the metal panel, that they then be sealed by a sheet of
adhesive acetate, the clearance holes cut, the jacks mounted and then the
wires going form the PCBAs be attached to them. Again, the boards are
already pre-assembled. While these boards were tested at the Serge facility
some 30 years ago (!), there's only one trim pot on the entire panel - so
there's a good possibility that the panel is in perfect working order, half
life of CMOS not withstanding.
I would be happy to assemble this panel for anyone who is interested.
Please contact me offline about this.
It appears that this kit has never been assembled (the solder joints on the
wires are the same age as the component joints on the boards) and was very
well kept over the years. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being best, I would
rate the condition of this panel as a 10, considering it's age. This is a
gold mine for the avid Serge enthusiast. I can't image there are a lot of
accounted for unassembled Serge panels out there and will go out on a limb
saying if there are, they are probably not in a condition anywhere near this
one.
Hope this helps.
- Peter