I recently imported a rare 1939 Hammond Novachord into the UK from the US for full restoration.
The Novachord is widely accepted to be the world's first polyphonic subtractive synthesizer. The instrument is about the size to two spinet pianos, contains 163 tubes and weighs 250Kg! Despite it's age the instrument features an early implementation of ADSR envelopes, a resonant filter and a full divide down oscillator architecture.
1069 were built and there are believed to be less than 200 still in existence. Considerably less are to be found in Europe and quite possibly number 346 is the only one to be found in the UK.
If you are, or know of, an owner in Europe (especially if you are from the UK) please contact me at: dan -at- hideawaystudio dot co dot uk.
You can now follow the restoration project of this amazing vintage instrument on VSE:
D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio.
Beautiful work :)
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