The Optigan was a neat instrument built by Mattel in the early Seventies. The sounds come from real samples that are printed onto Celluloid discs, and those printed soundwaves modulate the amount of brightness of an internal lightbulb coupled with an array of photo transistors as the disc spins. If you've ever seen the printed sound tracks on the side of films, you'll recognize the concept.

 

 

I bought this Optigan from a friend of mine in 2013, who acquired it from his high school's drama department years before. It was in really rough shape, and was living out in a barn at his parents' house. It wouldn't spin discs, and it had a really weird paintjob. Apparently, it was painted to look like it was in a fire. It was a stage prop for a play.

 

 

The idler wheel was warn out, and needed new rubber. I sent it off to Terry's Rubber Rollers in Michigan, and he replaced it good as new. After lots of contact cleaning, everything started to work again. I gave it a groovy paintjob, and relabled the control panel. I ended up trading it years later.

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Restored 2014