Roland SH-1000 Rescue!

Here's an in-depth look at my latest restoration project, Roland's first synthesizer from 1973, the SH-1000. There's a little history on the synth and the formative years of the market, plenty of SH-1000 driven background music, a quick demo of the features/sound, the complete restoration and finally a little jam video at the end.

Here are some handy resources that I used for this project:

And finally, Big Ben Hillman, who is the rightful owner of this SH1000!

0:00 Intro
2:03 History
4:39 Features & Demo
7:35 First Day Trying Synth
9:15 Taking Apart Synth
10:39 Cabinet Work
15:08 Keyboard & Electronics
20:58 Final Reassembly
22:12 Outro
22:39 SH-1000 Jam

[ronrees]

I just brought a SH 2000 which is so dirty and somewhat works this has inspired me to open it up and give it a good clean

[MonkeyUnit]

I had to watch 10, 000 vintage synth videos before the almighty algorithm reluctantly suggested this video. Great video! Looking forward to more. Proud to be your 451st subscriber.

[AlexBallMusic]

Thanks for the link, I finally had time to watch this whilst sat in front of an SH-1000! I've had an immaculate one on loan for two years and it dates from March of 1974 funnily enough, so just one month younger than yours.

Fantastic job on this, very satisfying to see the end result and the music was fantastic too. Hats off.

Here's to the next restoration in 15 years time. ;)

[panatlantik]

Jeremy, this is one of the best vids ever loaded up to YT! The passion you provide to safe this beautiful synth is inspiring. Thank you!!
(BTW: could you please move over here to Hamburg, Germany? We will happily provide a cosy and fluffy bed, healthy food and treats for the rest of your life, while you work on all our vintage synths? So we all can live happily ever after. And yes, we even have some clumsy cats for boosting your forthcoming artful videos into million of views for the younger generation :)

[MRPmlp]

I am magically notified the second my son Jeremy puts up another video and this one is well worth the 15 years it took to complete especially with stereo headphones on. Well Done Jeremy and amazing in it's detail and information as well as the music and sound.

[MrOrgeston]

The information about the SH-1000 is good, and the restoration is really interesting, but man, that jam at the end! This video has it all.

[emilholmsten]

Had one of theese! It is a powerful and awsome machine

[musicandfilms]

This was the only synth my NE England state school had around 1980 so it was the first synth I ever played. Your painstaking restoration to a condition better than new is an amazing and delightful thing of beauty. 15 years are not too long to wait.

[nachom]

You did this synth justice. Subscribed!

[jaybreen]

Yeah Jamrod! Love the production value man, this is pretty sharp!

[trabolmix]

Hola, muy buen trabajo es un placer ver restaurado ese roland tan maravilloso. Felicidades un saludo muy grande desde Conil, Cádiz, España .

[MRPmlp]

Once we got home I watched the whole amazing video including the funky song at the end - beyond meticulous and excellence Jeremy. The process and results of these projects are so special I was thinking the Management of Roland and of Rhodes might be interested in them and realize the tremendous historical and technical value of both of them. Perhaps even a consulting role for you? What do I know, I’m just your Dad.

[synthfellow]

Great job and I love the funky tune in the end of the video! :)

[danielpirone]

Great video- thanks for sharing! I have an SH-2000 I need to restore... thanks for the inspiration.

[jeffdo]

Wtf is there anything you don't do?!? Amazing

[LoopTactic]

que buen video, esquisito synth. thank you very much, saludos desde Chile, suscrito!!

[OudartPatricia-Claire]

❤ like my SH2000. I can recognize some details and specificities I encountered on it. Recently I opened it, cleaned everything, I saw that electonic was factory scelled so for now, as if I have the service manual, I did not touch to anything. Caps are all visually goods, everything seems to work, and the synth is in good shape. Only I fnd some presets are lower in volume than others, and the mono out is low in volume, I have to add gain on the mixing table. I don't know if this is normal, for the time, as amps wrre designed for guitares, it was not line but instruments in ?
A thing I found, is that for me this instrument can be integrated UNDER an other synthesiser, nowadays, in my case, I'm building a wood box to integrate my Juno 6, over the SH2000 that will let me at the right of it to add analog effects to the SH and Juno, using modular adds. The top cover for the two will be a modular rack, and a mix table, so I'm building an entire box, using for lateral pamnels nuts wood, oiled and with a linsed oil finish.i will build a similar bow for a a Yamaha DX7, Tx7, Dx 21, ensemble, but taking out all the metal, that is mostly rusted. It will be better with wood, and with an UF70 CME keyboard, quite a DX1.
This one will be a lot of work, the top cap cover have also to include a computer for programmation.I hope I will be able to finish this project, I think that will be a fine instrument., and having midi and place for filters and effects, or, and a pro 800 Behringer.3

[thethhr]

did you have to replace the springs to fix the key action, im trying to figure out if i can clean and service my sh-1000 myself thanks for this video. I'm curious why didn't you get fix the scuffs and scratches on the control panel or repaint it, or is it not possible?

[HimmyJohn]

So mine, on some waves and half of the presets, I get strong feedback and the notes actually hold after I release the key. The keyboard functions and makes noise, but I get the scratchy feedback and never ending notes. Any idea what it may be?

[denversos]

Hello, Can you say me please in thé vidéo where's the knob for tuning, my problem is that there is a difference in tuning between the low octaves and the high octave. Thank you