Another Newbie with pics of a different looking Etherwave.

Hi folks,

I'm brand new to the world of theremins and decided to build a Moog kit just to get a better flavor of what's inside making those otherworldly sounds. I also wanted to make the box befitting such an instrument. Here's a link to pics of the box I painted and finished assembling yesterday.

Cheers,
Paul

http://picasaweb.google.com/pauljohngriffin/
Theremin91081017PM#

Welcome to TW and the world of theremins! Kudos for being brave enough to assemble a kit as well :D

That's a very striking Etherwave you have there. Just out of curiosity, how did you paint it?

Thanks. Well, my solder skills resulted in joints the size of small baseballs, but wonder of wonder, it all works.

In order to paint it, I applied a base coat of fluorescent orange spray paint, then a coat of BEHR PREMIUM PLUS WITH STYLE Crackle No. 755 - MSDS. The blue coat is a layer of flat latex paint which cracks where it will, and then the top covering is six coats of a clear coat. The whole process, with waiting for each step to dry took two weeks.

My next project might be to find an old radio box and paint it up in a similar way and put the Etherwave electronics inside and add some vintage radio knobs. What do you think? Any suggestions?

Think it might help my playing any? ;)

On the idea of a vintage radio casing, it would be great, except that if I got such a casing (although it would all depend on the wood) I might be reluctant to change it! :) But I'm just a nerd that way. It would be really cool if you had a built-in amplifier too, since I believe most old-timey radios had them...you would have an all-in-one theremin, which would be very convenient. However, there's no way that it would alter your tone/pitch accuracy/articulation/other assorted playing skills whatsoever. Sorry:)

I'd never heard of paint that is supposed to crack...very interesting concept, though. Or maybe I'm just sheltered:P

Well, have fun with your thereminizing (as is the term here)! :)

Very stylish! The blue crackle over the orange base gives it a sort of retro 60s psychedelic look; far more interesting than a plain black brick!

A built in amp in the old timey radio? That's a great idea.

I imagine a Pig's Nose or some other better sounding small piano practice amp might fit or maybe I'll look around for an amp kit.

As far as playing, at least the local coyotes no longer howl when I play, and when my kid's friends come over, I get to be a home novelty act.

I've also been having fun running the Theremin output through my Line Six XT Live Bass Effects pedals.

The only thing I know is that I really detest having to hook my amp up every time I play...there's no way to be lazy about it:P So having an amp in your setup would be very beneficial and time-saving.

You wouldn't need a mic stand, either...but it might not be very portable.