B3 Theremin Antenna slightly bent

Hello Theremin World,

RePO here! Finally made it to the West Coast of America. Washington State, specifically.... I have great news! My B3 Theremin from before was having power issues. But was fixed as soon as I got in contact with Mr. Burns. Phenomenal job. However, months later and my English Bulldog ran through the dinning room knocking over the Theremin. So, now the antenna looks slightly bent out of shape.

I was wondering if there's a way to simply replace the Antenna with a solid state, non collapsing antenna? The Theremin still works. I'm still have a lot of fun with "Tilly" (I named my Theremin, Tilly). I'm just wondering if there's a way to "alter" a B3 Pro Theremin. Any info would be most appreciative and I'd like to meet up with anyone in the Seattle/Canada area.

- RePO

You could use a strong tube as an antenna but you would need it to have a similar mass and diameter of the original. Then you may be at the same problem still with a bendable antenna. If it was close you would only need to adjust the pitch trimmer inside the unit. If its not close you would need to swap resistors in the pitch circuit oscillators. It would be helpful to have a frequency counter so you could experiment. I don't know if a rubber ducky could work.

Hello RePo and maniac,

I think the best bet is to order a new antenna from Dan Burns. The dimensions are critical. I would never design using a telescoping antenna but this approach does have some nice advantages. If you try something else without knowledge of how it all works it could turn into an intense learning curve.

I own and give away this frequency counter to my builders, it is from Amazon and it works excellent up to 10Mhz. In So. California it arrives in 7 days from China. Sometimes the price drops to $13 with free shipping.

PS: Chuck you are one of my early mentors, are you in Alaska now and how is that stand-alone volume control coming along? Too bad I seem to be running out of gas these days, "Father Time" is stalking me.

Christopher

Sounds like it's going to be a bigger problem than I can solve. I'm not personally an electrician by any means. Though I do have friends who are. I'm not sure if there qualifications meet the standards though. Ya'know? In lame-mans terms, I pictured the instrument would be somewhat forgiving if the antenna was the same build. But non-collapsing.

I wish I could write Dan Burns a Technical Directive wishing for a removable Antenna. But alas... I guess not. However, I am sending him mine to refurbish. So, hopefully Tilly will be of use to someone else if she finds her way. In the mean time.

Thank you all for your quick and timely response.

The Theremin can sometimes be a very unforgiving circuit. Even a 1/4 inch collapse of the telescoping antenna will change the circuit tuning and operation. Hope you can get a modification done.

 Hi Chris, we are in Big Bend Wisconsin. I put in the Alaska address as a memory to one of my friends that had a shop up there called Czar's Guitars. We now have the stand alone volume control as well as the pitch and volume Theremin including a very limited number of 'Touch Theremins'. The frequency counter you mention is an amazing display of low cost high tech. I will be getting one.