Since the turn of the 20th century, the world of DIY electronics in the west has evolved into a subculture that promotes the sharing of ideas and resources, the sharing of knowledge created relatively accessible means for musicians to develop their own technologies, the creation of these technologies made by musicians has created and helped change different musical subcultures as well as having large impact on mainstream musical culture.
Individual inventors of electronic instruments:
In the early 20th century it was predominantly inventors working alone to create new electronic instruments. An example of a failed invention is the Luminaphone. Harry Grindell Matthews was a British inventor known for his “much publicised invention of a ‘Death Ray’ in 1923” (120 Years Of Electronic Music, 120years.net), he invented the Luminaphone in 1925/1926 which used beams of light to create voltage and to decide pitch, his invention never made it past one prototype despite him traveling to the US to try and sell his invention. 5 years before this in Russia, Leon Theramin invented the Theramin which was “licensed to the RCA corporation for commercial exploitation” in 1929. (Timony, J, Lazzarini, V and Keller, D, 2020, Ubiquitous Music Ecologies, Routledge). The Theramin eventually found large success in the world of film music due to its use in the 1951 alien film “The day the earth stood still”.
Post- second world war:
After World War Two, the use of electronic instruments was on the rise however the supply of affordable electronic instruments was lacking, this lead to build-your-own style kits being a very popular alternative. An example of one of these kits is the Thryatone, an electronic organ kit patented by Richard H. Dorf in 1945.
Build-your-own kits were often available in subscription magazines, “relevant subscription magazines became an acceptable way to educate people about new and potentially lucrative engineering skills” (https://historictech.com/sinclair-heathkit-hobby-electronics/). Having subscription magazines focused around circuitry allowed for anybody to develop the skills necessary to create their own technology which helped form the basis for the subculture of electronic hobbyists to grow into what it is today.
“The development of the music electronics DIY market in the fifties is illustrated by the appearance of Theramin kits” (Timony, J, Lazzarini, V and Keller, D, 2020, Ubiquitous Music Ecologies, Routledge). Before Robert Moog began selling his renowned synthesisers he produced and sold theremin kits, “1,000 theremin kits sold during the height of Moog’s little business. That’s twice as many as the original RCA theremin sold in 1930.” (https://moogfoundation.org)
Online resources:
In the digital age, the resources for DIY musical equipment are more accessible than ever, schematics and tutorials are available online as well as online forums which allow novices to seek guidance from more experienced creators. Whilst the publications for hobbyists that arose after the war contained schematics and information surrounding technologies that were new at the time, the internet became superior resource to hobbyists, the internet and new softwares allowed much more freedom for makers to alter existing designs as well create their own.