The Bob Moog Foundation Adds One of Bob’s Earliest Theremins to Its Archives

June 29, 2026 (Asheville, NC) — The Bob Moog Foundation is excited to announce the addition of one of the very first R.A. Moog theremins, the Model 351, built in 1954. Bob Moog was only 20 years old when the company made this model available. It is preceded only by his first commercial product, the Model 201 theremin, released just one year earlier, and alongside the Model 305, a simpler, budget-minded version of the Model 351.

The theremin, appraised with a value of $25,000, was generously donated by Tammy and Phil Niemeyer. Tammy’s grandfather, James Gray Everhart, purchased the theremin in Sherman, Texas, around 1955. James was a musician and engineer, and was naturally drawn to the theremin. Although James did have a renowned love of gadgets, he believed in the theremin’s ability to create beautiful music. Family members have cherished memories of James amazing his close friends with soft ballad performances played by ear.

The Model 351 theremin is a five-octave, vacuum tube-based instrument. Like all of Bob Moog’s products at the time, they were hand assembled in his father George Moog’s basement workshop. The small mahogany cabinet included a volume control plate on the left and a pitch control antenna on the right. Its silkscreened front panel hosts a generous number of tone-control knobs, including an array of three separate volume knobs. Interestingly, Moog omitted the specifics of these knob applications from the operation manual, leaving customers to their own creative interpretations.

Next to these volume controls were two four-position switches which affected what Bob called “Synthetic Format.” This advanced functionality was not included with the stripped-down Model 305. By mixing and matching the switch positions, the instrument allowed a wide palette of tone possibilities. The first switch could be set at “Principal,” which was the same default tone of the Model 305, or to “Woodwind,” “Horn,” or “String.” The second switch was essentially a pitch-transposing selector, with settings for “Fundamental,” “Octave,” “Quint,” and “Superoctave.” The far-right “Pitch Adjustment” knob enabled more refined modifications.

The self-contained nature of Bob’s original Model 201, which retained an internal amplifier and speaker, was changed for the Model 351 (and 305). This was replaced by outputs for external connectivity.

The Model 351 theremin was the subject of Bob Moog’s article, “Music from Electrons,” from the June 1956 issue of Audiocraft magazine.

“We are thrilled to have this extremely rare R.A. Moog Model 351 theremin as part of the Bob Moog Foundation Archives,” said Michelle Moog-Koussa, Executive Director of the Bob Moog Foundation. “This stunning historical instrument helps us trace the evolution of Bob’s design ethic, while sharing the growth of his fledgling company.”

The Model 351 Theremin is the latest in a long line of rare, vintage Moog instruments added to the Bob Moog Foundation Archives, including an R.A. Moog Co. Model 201 theremin from 1954, Herb Deutsch’s Melodia theremin from 1961, an R.A. Moog Troubador theremin from 1962, two Moog modular synthesizers from 1967, and Deutsch’s R.A. Moog Co. Minimoog from 1971, a Musonics Minimoog, Gary Wright’s Moog Liberation keytar, the Moog Apollo prototype, the first Minimoog Voyager ever sold, and much more.

The Bob Moog Foundation Archives is a vast and growing collection of over 15,000 pieces of historical materials related to the life and work of Bob Moog and those who worked with him. The Foundation protects and preserves these items for sharing with researchers, journalists, and museums, and features them in its own Moogseum, located in downtown Asheville, NC.

To learn more about the Bob Moog Foundation Archives, visit: https://moogfoundation.org/projects/bob-moog-foundation-archives/