Etherwave Pro: back detail suggestions requested.

Hi, I'm not going to rebuild my E Pro's back like Peter Pringle did, but I'm considering using some kind of wood grain looking vineer on the black back of my Pro.

I'd like to use something that won't come off over time, but would come off without harming the original finnish if I decided to roll back to the original look for some stupid reason.

Has anyone tried this with a theremin? If so, have you noticed any changes to the theremin's performance charactoristics?

I'm leaning towards a color that would go good with the maple front, but not walnut, (too brown). I'm thinking more along the lines of cherry, or one of those reddish orange colored finnishes that resembles the color of a violin, or something.

I had considered a wild looking vineer that would be a transparent holographic film that would allow the black back to be seen, but would shoot out brilliant rainbow colors of light in the right conditions.

Final option was to do just the sides in a wood vineer, and just the very back where the moog logos, and sereal numbers are in a transparent holographic film. I'm considering the tranparent holo film as there is no aluminum backing on it. Just adhesive, so there's no risk of interferance.

Any ideas? Yays? Nays?

The same topic was discussed on Levnet at the beginning of the month. Here is what I wrote:

"While reading this at lunch today I was hit by a flood of ideas. (I just
can't post from work.) Why just stop at another flat paint job? I love
Yoko Onishi's cherry (or plum) blossom painted Etherwave.

If you like wood, the easiest way to "upgrade" the appearance of the E-Pro
would be to cover the black paint with a nice wood veneer. You might only
need to rough up the paint a little, and the choice of wood is almost
unlimited. If you wanted the warmth of natural wood, and a nice graphic
design, you could even do a tasteful marquetry job.

If you are a little less conventional, you might think about things like
fabrics, wallpaper, tolex, carpeting, possibly even tile. If you really
wanted something unique, how about some decoupage?

Or, if you're really cheap, you can do what my mother did to just about
everything back in the sixties and seventies....cover it with "contact
paper". Faux stained glass anyone? Hahahahaaaaaaaa!"

Obviously, towards the end I was just being silly and throwing out ideas no matter how ludicrous.

I did have another idea since then that would satisfy your requirements to some extent. I'd make them and sell them myself if I thought there would be enough demand to justify it.

What would be cool is to have a selection of removable covers with different finishes that you could change whenever you liked. For this to work however, it might require some sort of fastening system modification to the E-Pro cabinet.

I personally wouldn't place that high of a value on the satin black paint job of the E-Pro as it came from the factory. It would only be an issue for "collectors" who insist on an "original patina" fifty years down the road. (Assuming there are any E-Pro's still functioning then.)

Whatever you use, you must make sure there are no metallic or carbon components in it that would affect the theremin. This would be a simple thing to check for. Just hold a sample piece of the finish you want to use near the antennas. If you get a reaction, you'll have to choose something else.

Green shag.

Grean. Freakin. Shag.

You mean the kind of green shag that glows under black light?

Please don't pimp the etherwave

Don't worry, I wouldn't dream of doing that to the etherwave, especially the Pro.