new guy

i havent got a theremin yet but plan to soon as in the next week or 2 burns b3 is what i want to start with....i have been attempting to find an insterment i could play since child hood im 59 now so time is pretty much run out for me so its the b3 or bust ............now i am getting an old all tube organ made by hammond in the 1950,s and it does have an abundance of 12au7,s i think 18 of them it has a 12ax7 phase splitter for 2 6v6,s and to beautiful jensen speakers its in working condition so it looks like ill have enough of the costly parts to make my ow amp from it and i hope to make a tube type therimen ....i currently have a magnavox hi-fi phono amp 3-5 watts all tube and that was one of my requirements to pre buy before a therimen.....im going to reuse the wood that the organ is made out of for the amp cabinet/speaker enclosuer....i beleive its solid hardwood so it should be pretty.....

but can a therimen be built with 12au7,s or that class of tube 

i havent got a theremin yet but plan to soon as in the next week or 2 burns b3 is what i want to start with....i have been attempting to find an insterment i could play since child hood im 59 now so time is pretty much run out for me so its the b3 or bust ............now i am getting an old all tube organ made by hammond in the 1950,s and it does have an abundance of 12au7,s i think 18 of them it has a 12ax7 phase splitter for 2 6v6,s and to beautiful jensen speakers its in working condition so it looks like ill have enough of the costly parts to make my ow amp from it and i hope to make a tube type therimen ....i currently have a magnavox hi-fi phono amp 3-5 watts all tube and that was one of my requirements to pre buy before a therimen.....im going to reuse the wood that the organ is made out of for the amp cabinet/speaker enclosuer....i beleive its solid hardwood so it should be pretty.....but can a therimen be built with 12au7,s or that class of tube

my pic is a henry 5k classic linear amp its my main amp use it every day....its got 2 3cx1200 a7,s one of these would make your ears bleed in an audio amp

“can a theremin be built with 12au7,s or that class of tube”

Ray the answer is yes, without any doubt, the foundation of the theremin is two basic RF oscillators operating at the same frequency between 200 kHz and 1 Mhz. The frequency you choose has little effect on the sound which you get by effectively mixing the two RF signals, a simple IN914 diode will do this. It is easier to find coils that work at the higher frequencies. The big honking coils used in the original designs at the lower frequencies are more for show today. I have seen people trying to build a theremin using impossible to find parts paying top dollar on ebay for them. This is silly as modern available stuff is much better, maybe they are trying to channel the old spirits like old has a better connection to them.

You starting from scratch is very ambitious, you will learn a lot. The internet gives you access to most knowledge that is available but it has become filled with stuff that does not work or page after page that end up being roads to nowhere. If you follow someone elses design get a sound sample of their final work. A cheap digital whistle sound is barely acceptable as it is like a kids toy. This should be a good retirement project for you and I want to be here in ten years to hear your results. Twenty years ago theremin building was very popular, even with tubes. Today there is not much interest especially since the introduction of the cell phone, is there a connection? Help is limited and many of us have become old men slowly checking out.

Good Luck

T