Hello Theremin players, intricate question.

Hi guys,

I'm Stefano and I'm Italian (I apologize in advance for the mistakes that I will make in using English :D)

I Would like to buy a theremin, but I don't konw what...
In this moment i don't have a large availability of money, hence in these days I was informed about this
attractive instrument and its costs...
Today on this forum I've read a topic about the difference between Moog etherwave and B3 deluxe theremin e I realized the limitations of the latter.

What are the difference between transistor and valves theremin? Agrees build its by itself?

I'm looking for a good compromise between quality and cost...What do you recommend??

Thanks for the attention...

The tube theremins have a better tonal quality, but they are also much more expensive, because parts are hard to find if you build a tube theremin.

Transistor theremins also sound good, and are less expensive, to build as kits.

The B3s, and Etherwave Standards are good theremins for beginners.

PAiA makes a kit, but it's difficult to build, and difficult to tune, and make playable.

There are other kits available on e-bay, but you're better off starting with a factory built theremin for starting with.

If you do decide to build a tube, or transistor theremin from a kit or from scratch, there are plenty of references in the theremin construction forum which will provide links to schematics, parts (possibly), and folks who have built them who can be of great assistance.

There are very few fully built tube theremins today which are built by Mark Keppinger, and a few others (very few). Theremins built in the 1920s like the RCA theremins were tube theremins, but only about 150 or less still work out of the 500 built back in 1928 and 29. Moog made a handful of tube theremins. You might find one on e-bay from time to time, but it would be terribly expensive.

I wish you all the best with the theremin, and welcome to the exciting world of the theremin. ;)