Restoring an RCA Model AR-1264 Theremin

David A. Newton (email: danewton@hevanet.com) of Portland, Oregon, is in the process of restoring his family's 1929 vintage RCA Theremin. David first shared photos of the theremin with us last year, and has since made great progress in the restoration process. This page will cover the project as it evolves and will be of interest to anyone restoring their own RCA theremin or perhaps building their own cabinet modelled after the RCA AR-1264.

Please note that this page includes heavy graphic content and may take a few minutes to load. If you love the RCA Theremin as much as I do, you'll find it well worth the wait.

On to Part II...

Before...

Mr. Newton's family came to own the RCA theremin in the late 1920's when his father bought it to use at the Cornish School of Music in Seattle, WA.

This image shows the theremin before any cabinet work was begun. Although a few scratches and dents are evident, the sturdy mahogany wood has served the instrument well. This Theremin even spent a while in a few inches of water in a wet basement, but you would never know.

This image shows the "guts" of the theremin before electrical restoration. Everything has been removed from the cabinet to facillitate the refinishing process. The 2 large cylinders are the main coils and appear to be in excellent condition. The tubes are all in working order as well. David reports that the instrument is falling short of the advertised 4-octave range. Tuning and electrical restoration will begin once the cabinet is finished.

Cabinet Restoration - During...

The front face and top have been sanded down and stripped now. This picture shows a good view of the top of the cabinet. Notice the long slot next to the mounting hole for the pitch antenna. This was to let heat out of the cabinet. All those those tubes generate quite a bit of heat!

Here's a great closeup of the rear door panels and the sheet-music lip. The lip is usually attached to hinges on the sloping front of the theremin and folds in for travelling. The doors also include a "kill switch" which shuts off power to the instrument when the doors are opened. This was to protect players from the high voltages in the circuit (in some places over 300V!).

Although they're a bit difficult to see in this picture, the bottoms of the door panels are stamped with a number (223). While they are probably simply part numbers, the actual meaning of the stamps is unknown. This specific instrument has no serial number, so Mr. Newton is not sure whether these numbers are related to the serial number at all. If you have any information regarding them, please either e-mail me (jbbarile@vuse.vanderbilt.edu) or Mr. Newton (e-mail link above).

After entire cabinet has been stripped, this photo shows the inside of the cabinet. Note the shelf sliders which support the electronics shown in the photo above. The small hole in the left/front bottom of the cabinet is for the speaker and power cords. The hole in the front (back in this image) is for the power/volume control panel.

Cabinet Restoration - After

David just sent me (mid June, 1997) this photo of the refinished cabinet. It looks like all his hard work has paid-off beautifully. The original shine and glow of the RCA cabinet is back! In the coming months, David will repair and restore the electronics inside the cabinet.

More pictures added 1/3/2001!