Thanks Walt for these very helpful crating comments; they are much appreciated. I own an RCA theremin**, so am familiar with the delicate nature of the legs (which as we know are often missing), but I hadn't gotten farther in my mind than vague ideas of braces or boxing in the leg portion.
I agree that the best approach would be a full length crate, with some kind of additional lower support, and shipped upside down. In my wishful thinking, I was picturing it wrapped only in a nice soft quilt and traveling in the back of someone's vehicle (it even fits across the rear seat of mid-size cars). Short of that, it would certainly need careful and thoughtful preparation if it's to be handled by the usual shipper workforce, or forcework or whatever we should call them. I also concur that there are perhaps 100 or more survivors of the original 500 standard RCA models, it's just that the only internationally public registry has logged only about 40 instruments by their serial numbers, so that's all we have that's definite. I can actually play this instrument, with reasonably accurate pitch and even with some expressiveness, but I'm no musician. If I can find a simple way to record it, even with a microphone, and upload the recording to a URL with space for it, I'd be happy to do so. I just haven't spent any serious time researching the nuts and bolts of how to go about doing it. I wouldn't want to put you to any trouble, but I would love to have any contacts you've established in the past with other vintage theremin owners. Thanks again for your thoughtful reply. Andy **In contemporary demonstrations, and most literature from the time when these instruments were new, they were referred to as "The Victor Theremin", no doubt because RCA viewed it as having more in common with their recently acquired music / record distribution network than with their Radiola division. I have two Victor pressings that feature the theremin, and would love to find any others that exist. The two I have are: Victor 22495-- Lover, Come Back to Me & Dancing With Tears In My Eyes, and Canadian VTMC 22296-- I'm a Dreamer, Aren't We All? & Love (Your Spell is Everywhere). On Oct 1, 2007, at 12:19 PM, Walt wrote: > Andy, > > If the chassis and other removable parts, especially anything made > of iron, > are going to be shipped separately, ask your seller to make sure > that the > tubes (assuming it has them) are removed and individually packed. > And, as > you think to ship the cabinet (and this assumes that it is without > a chassis > or any of the larger iron frame parts), you might consider having a > crate > constructed and then shipping it upside down. > > Yes, crazy I know... As unconventional as that may sound (and the > first time > I was told this it seemed silly) it is potentially a much safer > means to > ship. The Theremin cabinets are very much like the Radiola cabinets > of the > day except they have incredibly tall and slim spindly stiletto legs > that are > more precarious then my Victor Revere. The other way to ship it > safely if > you don't want to invert the empty cabinet is to have a wooden > frame built > that is about 1/2" taller then the legs, which would be mounted to > the crate > base and ultimately bear the weight of the unit by supporting the > underside > of the cabinet directly. I use a this technique all of the time when > shipping many upright Victrolas (although the Victrola cabinets I > make them > for are much nearer to the ground) and it has virtually eliminated > broken > legs or cabinet frame damage from splitting. It has always been > worth the > effort in my work. > > If you ship the Theremin cabinet standing on its legs you have a > puny total > of 4 or 5 square inches of area to support the whole structure. By > building > a frame with a platform top upon which the cabinet underside can > rest you > increase the area of support a hundredfold and totally relieve the > legs of > having to support anything except their individual weight. > > I have worked with some collectors on the restorations of original RCA > Theremins in the past and the actual numbers of surviving units > seems to be > greater than the widely rumored statistics floating about the > internet. I > can't prove it, but based on the relatively active number of > collectors I > have encountered it would seem to be more in the hundred plus range > just as > a feeling goes. But they are rare - for sure. However, the fact > that 500 > were made seems to be accurate based on the serial numbers of I > have seen. I > would have to do some serious digging, but if you want, I would be > happy to > forward any email addresses that I have from the guys I worked > worth. They > are some of the most helpful collectors of anything that I have ever > encountered so far. > > So.......Will we be the first to hear your RCA Theremin music once > it is > altogether again? > > Walt From [email protected] Mon Oct 1 15:33:41 2007 From: [email protected] ([email protected]) Date: Mon Oct 1 15:35:20 2007 Subject: [Phono-L] Victor Theremin-Chicago area-transportation inquiry In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> References: <008101c80457$9f5039c0$0201a...@daddell> <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[email protected]> I recall seeing a letter to dealers that mentioned that the responsibility for the Theremin was being transfered from the Victor Division to the RCA Division. In this sense, there would really be "Victor Theremins" and "RCA Theremins". On Oct 1, 2007, at 2:08 PM, Andrew Baron wrote: > Thanks Walt for these very helpful crating comments; they are much > appreciated. I own an RCA theremin**, so am familiar with the > delicate nature of the legs (which as we know are often missing), > but I hadn't gotten farther in my mind than vague ideas of braces > or boxing in the leg portion. > > I agree that the best approach would be a full length crate, with > some kind of additional lower support, and shipped upside down. In > my wishful thinking, I was picturing it wrapped only in a nice soft > quilt and traveling in the back of someone's vehicle (it even fits > across the rear seat of mid-size cars). Short of that, it would > certainly need careful and thoughtful preparation if it's to be > handled by the usual shipper workforce, or forcework or whatever we > should call them. > > I also concur that there are perhaps 100 or more survivors of the > original 500 standard RCA models, it's just that the only > internationally public registry has logged only about 40 > instruments by their serial numbers, so that's all we have that's > definite. > > I can actually play this instrument, with reasonably accurate pitch > and even with some expressiveness, but I'm no musician. If I can > find a simple way to record it, even with a microphone, and upload > the recording to a URL with space for it, I'd be happy to do so. I > just haven't spent any serious time researching the nuts and bolts > of how to go about doing it. > > I wouldn't want to put you to any trouble, but I would love to have > any contacts you've established in the past with other vintage > theremin owners. > > Thanks again for your thoughtful reply. > > Andy > **In contemporary demonstrations, and most literature from the time > when these instruments were new, they were referred to as "The > Victor Theremin", no doubt because RCA viewed it as having more in > common with their recently acquired music / record distribution > network than with their Radiola division. I have two Victor > pressings that feature the theremin, and would love to find any > others that exist. The two I have are: Victor 22495-- Lover, Come > Back to Me & Dancing With Tears In My Eyes, and Canadian VTMC > 22296-- I'm a Dreamer, Aren't We All? & Love (Your Spell is > Everywhere). > > > On Oct 1, 2007, at 12:19 PM, Walt wrote: > >> Andy, >> >> If the chassis and other removable parts, especially anything made >> of iron, >> are going to be shipped separately, ask your seller to make sure >> that the >> tubes (assuming it has them) are removed and individually packed. >> And, as >> you think to ship the cabinet (and this assumes that it is without >> a chassis >> or any of the larger iron frame parts), you might consider having >> a crate >> constructed and then shipping it upside down. >> >> Yes, crazy I know... As unconventional as that may sound (and the >> first time >> I was told this it seemed silly) it is potentially a much safer >> means to >> ship. The Theremin cabinets are very much like the Radiola >> cabinets of the >> day except they have incredibly tall and slim spindly stiletto >> legs that are >> more precarious then my Victor Revere. The other way to ship it >> safely if >> you don't want to invert the empty cabinet is to have a wooden >> frame built >> that is about 1/2" taller then the legs, which would be mounted to >> the crate >> base and ultimately bear the weight of the unit by supporting the >> underside >> of the cabinet directly. I use a this technique all of the time when >> shipping many upright Victrolas (although the Victrola cabinets I >> make them >> for are much nearer to the ground) and it has virtually eliminated >> broken >> legs or cabinet frame damage from splitting. It has always been >> worth the >> effort in my work. >> >> If you ship the Theremin cabinet standing on its legs you have a >> puny total >> of 4 or 5 square inches of area to support the whole structure. By >> building >> a frame with a platform top upon which the cabinet underside can >> rest you >> increase the area of support a hundredfold and totally relieve the >> legs of >> having to support anything except their individual weight. >> >> I have worked with some collectors on the restorations of original >> RCA >> Theremins in the past and the actual numbers of surviving units >> seems to be >> greater than the widely rumored statistics floating about the >> internet. I >> can't prove it, but based on the relatively active number of >> collectors I >> have encountered it would seem to be more in the hundred plus >> range just as >> a feeling goes. But they are rare - for sure. However, the fact >> that 500 >> were made seems to be accurate based on the serial numbers of I >> have seen. I >> would have to do some serious digging, but if you want, I would be >> happy to >> forward any email addresses that I have from the guys I worked >> worth. They >> are some of the most helpful collectors of anything that I have ever >> encountered so far. >> >> So.......Will we be the first to hear your RCA Theremin music once >> it is >> altogether again? >> >> Walt > _______________________________________________ > Phono-L mailing list > http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
