Big Briar Etherwave Theremin Signature Edition

Please contact me at the email below if you're interested in purchasing this theremin from me. I am the original owner. It is personally signed by Bob Moog, and the Letter of Authenticity is included. There isn't a scratch on it and it is 100% functional. Serial Number MSS845. Pictures available on request. I'm looking for $600.

If you're in the Chicagoland area, you can come get it whenever you want, or I'll even bring it to you. Otherwise I'll ship it UPS and will expect you to pay for shipping. (Which I can't see being more that 10-15 bucks)

Please only contact me if you're serious about buying. Thanks!

Matthew Flanigan
uneronumo(at)gmail(dot)com

Hmm... no one? Am I asking too much or is there just no interest?

Most of the people in this forum already own theremins, so announcing the sale of your instrument here is perhaps not the best way to reach the widest possible number of potential buyers.

I suggest you put your theremin up on ebay. Be warned, however, that at any given time there are a dozen or more Etherwave theremins for sale there, and they usually fetch between three and four hundred dollars depending on age and condition.

There is nothing special about the signature series instruments other than the fact that they are signed by the late Bob Moog. For many buyers (most of whom are white males somewhere between 16 & 25) money is a big consideration, especially in a weak economy, and the signature may not be not worth two hundred extra dollars.

BTW: There are some Etherwave (and Series 91a) theremins around in the world which have got complex individual modifications inside which really improve playability or functionality. They have also a signature inside but which is not Bob Moog's. When being sold one day (but I think the owners will never separate from them) they could perhaps be somewhat more expensive due to the added "real" value.

Thierry, do you mean that there are instruments that bear the signature of someone other than Bob Moog, or do you mean someone has forged Bob's name?

I ask the question because I own a modified 91A (which I never play) that is signed on the inside by Bob.

Strictly speaking, the 91A is not a theremin because it is not a heterodyne instrument. It is a synthesizer with a voice chip inside it. It has no "zero point" and always makes a noise as long as the volume is up.

Beyond that, it behaves in every other way like a theremin.

I meant that there are instruments that bear the signature of someone other than Bob Moog because this "someone other" has in the case of one 91 made a rather difficult repair (the useful size of the pitch field was compressed to only 4", independent of the position of the 3-turn variable capacitor which is "behind" the pitch tuning knob). In the other 91, a voltage divider/limiter/buffer stage has been added in order to create a supplementary pitch preview/tuner output.

I think that the signatures of Bob Moog and of this "someone other" may not be accidentally confounded...

I allow to add some precisions concerning the operating principle of the Big Briar Series 91 theremins:
There is one XTAL master oscillator at 1.8MHz. Its signal is divided by 4 in order to obtain 450kHz for the volume circuit and by 7 in order to obtain 257kHz for the pitch circuit. These frequencies are applied to LC networks where the antennae have the role of variable capacitors. Other variable capacitors are there for pitch/volume tuning. There occurs a phase shift depending on the antenna capacitance while the frequency remains constant. These phase shifts are detected and transformed into control voltages with rather simple discriminator circuits.
The volume CV is applied to a LM13600 based VCA which is almost similar to the Etherwave's VCA. The pitch CV is applied to a LM13600 based VCO which outputs a 8Vpp triangle wave. The latter goes through a "classical" wave shaping circuit whose filter, distortion and symmetry parameters are determined by 4 different switchable RC networks before being fed into the VCA.

Thanks so much for that info. I'm aware that the market is small for these, so I was here to test the waters. I'm also aware that my sentiment is probably the reason the price is higher than it should be. :)
That being said, I don't really use ebay so I'm slightly intimidated by the process, and annoyed that they take a cut. (Even though I completely understand that they provide a service that justifies a cut...)
Anyway, thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it!

Thierry, would this mysterious "other" person who has signed his name to Moog theremins by any chance have the initials "S.D."?

I am not using Steve Dunnington's name because I don't want to blow his anonymity! Hahahahahaa.....

He is currently living in a "safe house" under the Witness Protection Program, hiding from a wild mob of crazed thereminists.

I had to look up on Google first in order to understand who Steve Dunnington is. But the initials in the theremins cited above are not "S.D."

Since the 91s and the Etherwaves I'm talking about have all been seen in Europe, I guess that the Initials that you can find inside are also European.