Popular Electronics April 1955 contains the plans for a tube model
Theremin. It is difficult to build as you need to wind your own coils and
build a fairly complex power transformer. We know of one attempt at this
recently, Dave Eley of Surrey BC, but the unit never did work properly.
Electronics World Jan. 1961 contains a transistor Theremin designed by
Moog. We tried to build this, but we were unable to find many of the
parts.
Member #25 has also built one and mentions it works well and was very easy to tune,
(1000 times easier than the 1967 model .. Tks Bob, I can believe it).
Popular Electronics Nov. 1967 has plans that can still be built. The
coils you need are Miller # 9001 40-240 uH. This is the plan that was
available on the internet at Lepers Schematics.
Radio and Television News magazine October 1949 also has tube model plans.
Everyday With Practical Electronics magazine, September 1995.
Barry and I have built 2 Theremins (TECI # 1 & TECI # 2 SWTP Hybrids) using plans that came with a kit Theremin,
dated 1974 offered by S.W. Technical Products. It is an update of the 1967
plans and features potentiometer tuning for the coils and a master volume control. We got the plans from the
Ontario Science Center and the theremin's work extremely well. We modified
the SWTP
design by using Miller #9001 coils, flat
aluminium plates for antennas,
and a resister pad network to lower the output amplitude. The cost for parts for ours was $200 Can. This seems to be
average for home made units. We have all these plans and will mail them for $10 US to recup our reproduction costs.
Superior professional quality Theremins are available from Big
Briar Inc in North Carolina USA.
