Enigma theremin for sale?

"One look at the antennas and the way the pitch rod is set up on this "ULTIMATE Stradivarius of theremins" says a lot about the quality of the mods. It does not look like a pro instrument for the pro thereminist." - Jesper

Oh, I couldnt agree more! - IMO, when one goes above the price of an EW, one expects (or should expect) at least to get antennas which are comparable to those on the EW, and not some which look like butchered coat hangers!

But - even if the antennas were titanium plated with Latinum, its not going to make the innards anything more than circuitry cobbled together by "designers" who are somewhere between hobbyist and 2nd year student Bsc engineering standard.. If one looks at the quality of some end-of-year theremin projects students have submitted recently, the placement of the PAiA crowd can be see clearly - Hobbyist bodge-merchants!

Having said the above - Constructing quality mechanical components and cabinets is not my forte either! LOL.. One can recognise towel rails etc from the B+Q and other DIY stores on my constructions.. but I havent put them on the market, or even dared to show them - let alone ask $1600 for them! ;-)

Fred.

It is rather jumble shop steam punk looking - maybe charging $1.6k for it is part of some cunning plan that's beyond my reckoning?  The Theremin market can be quite odd at times. 

Didn't the RCAs sell for huge gobs of money when they were rolling of the assembly line?  Not sure how this thing is built, but at least those had some solid engineering behind them.

"The Theremin market can be quite odd at times" - Dewster

Yes.. it can be......... ;-0  Just how extremely odd it is, I have just discovered, exceeds my wildest estimates by many orders of magnitude.. But thats a story waiting to be confirmed.. ;-)

"maybe charging $1.6k for it is part of some cunning plan that's beyond my reckoning?"

Maybe theyre onto something.. They "only" have 2 for sale, there is a hole at the "high end" of the market, and a glut at the low end... And there are people who equate high price to high quality (regardless of what it looks like - what did that pickled shark sell for ? ;-) .. If they keep advertising on ebay, who knows - they may even sell one to some idiot or someone so wealthy they dont give a hoot!

Then they will only have one left - this could be a collectors item by then (2057) "Built by Leon Thereminin in 2012 and using genuine SILICON transistors and ANALOGUE COILS, and never been played !!!" and they may get $12k (or the Latinum equivalent) for it ;-)

Probably just enough to buy a weeks air supply..

dewster: "The theremin market can be quite odd at times."

One thing that has been obvious since theremin manufacturing began in 1929 (and abruptly ended in 1931) is that THERE IS NO MARKET.

The only theremin that has ever been profitable is the Moog Etherwave and the vast majority of them have been sold as kits to hobbyists, not as finished instruments to professionals.

Why is this? Because there ain't no such animal as a full time "professional" thereminist, and it is highly unlikely that there is ever going to be. When people buy an expensive musical instrument (concert grand piano, concert harp, rare violin or cello, etc.) they generally do it because they consider it an investment in their musical future - an essential tool that will help them achieve their particular musical ambition. 

We are used to equating "electronic" with "cheap" because so much sophisticated electronic musical gear is mass manufactured and relatively inexpensive. The more you can sell, the more you can make and the cheaper your products will be. Yamaha can stamp out hundreds of top-of-the-line electronic keyboards a day and sell them for a couple of thousand dollars. If they had to make these keyboards by hand, individually, they would cost ten times that - which is roughly the cost of an ondes martenot.

The other day the HAND-EYE SUPPLY CURIOSITY CLUB  posted the following hour long video of a lecture from theremin maker Mark Keppinger. Mark is super! He is very entertaining, eloquent and fun. At one point he talks about corresponding with the late Robert Moog (whom I was surprised to learn he never actually met) and says that when he told Dr. Bob that he wanted to manufacture theremins, Bob told him he must be out of his mind!  LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJOIJaym5sY

"The only theremin that has ever been profitable is the Moog Etherwave and the vast majority of them have been sold as kits to hobbyists, not as finished instruments to professionals."  - coalport

Please don't think I doubt you, but I'm curious as to the source of that info?

"Yamaha can stamp out hundreds of top-of-the-line electronic keyboards a day and sell them for a couple of thousand dollars."  - coalport

An aside, Yamaha digital pianos aren't anywhere near as good as they could be, they seem to be relying more on marketing and selling their good name rather than good engineering lately.  Even large manufacturers can rely heavily on gravitas and mystique it seems.

"The other day the HAND-EYE SUPPLY CURIOSITY CLUB  posted the following hour long video of a lecture from theremin maker Mark Keppinger."  - coalport

Thanks for that, it was quite interesting!  Too bad the microphone setup wasn't a little better, there were many points where I couldn't hear what he was saying.  I thought the Teleharmonium was primarily used to give gobs of people music over their telephones, hence the name and the gargantuan size?

"One thing that has been obvious since theremin manufacturing began .. is that THERE IS NO MARKET.

 
The only theremin that has ever been profitable is the Moog Etherwave and the vast majority of them have been sold as kits to hobbyists, not as finished instruments to professionals...

 
Why is this? Because there ain't no such animal as a full time "professional" thereminist," - Coalport

I agree with your conclusion that "THERE IS NO MARKET", or certainly that there is no market worthy of serious investment anyway.. But I do not think that the fact "Because there ain't no such animal as a full time "professional" thereminist," is the reason for this.. There are no professional players of mini casio type keyboards, but there is certainly a market for these.

To me, the EW and low-end market (a couple of thousand units a year) is enough to keep a small business running.. Even 1000 units a year internationally @ £50 clear profit per unit would keep me happy.. But its not enough for any company employing more than one person! ;-)

The high-end is quite a different matter.. There is no money there (even charging £3k I could never recover my costs if every "Pro" thereminist bought one)  - BUT, I believe that developing for this "market" has some potential positive payback - The most important (from the developers perspective) is that one gets to meet top thereminists and get their vital input, gets to develop technology which can "trickle down" to the lower priced theremins, and hopefully can sell / give a few high-end theremins to top players and therebye establish a reputation which will give them an edge in the low-end market.

Fred.

Thanks for that link  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJOIJaym5sY Coalport - Really interesting.

One slightly sad thing struck me about the comments (about 4:30) was that Mark seems to make the same mistake I have over the years - To view the early theremin designs as being dictated by parts and technology available at the time, and missing the genius of the circuitry and engineering which underpinned the design decisions.

If I had actually looked at Levs designs with an attitude of respect - rather than as some old circuits thrown together using available stuff which was irelevant today, I may have saved myself several years trying to re-invent what Lev had already mastered and perfected. I think the whole possibility of progress for the theremin has been held back by decades of our big-headed engineering arrogance :-(

Oh - Just in case of misunderstanding - In no way am I critical of Mark in this respect - What he said is "true", and a year ago I would have said the same.. In fact, I was probably saying things like that up to a few months ago... It is only since really understanding Lev's circuitry that I have understood just what we lost by our lack of appreciation for Lev's genius. 

Fred.

Yes, a second "Thanks" from me Coalport. A great hour of entertainment.     : )

I also second that Mark K is a nice guy. Has some correspondence with him myself. Excellent.

So funny you guys were talking about this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTZTFb52I-I&list=UUhDY8dWfuUxnOh4cpqM7MtA&index=3