Guitarsenal: Sonic Wave Theremin

Jimmy used many tricks in the studio and onstage, most notably a guitar bow. One of his other well known go-to tricks didn't involve strings at all. The oldest known piece of electronic music gear; the theremin.

The theremin was invented by a Russian professor, Leon Theremin in 1920. The professor was contracted by the Russian government to design a proximity sensor. At the outbreak of the Russian Civil War, Theremin fled to the United States where he patented his device in 1928. Interestingly, Theremin left America just ten years later under dubious circumstances. Some say he was kidnapped by the KGB and taken back to the Soviet Union to work in a forced labor camp in Siberia. Others say he simply fled back to his home country to escape a massive amount of accumulated debt and was caught up in Stalin's purges.

Either way, he ended up spending ten years in a Sharashka and went on to work for the KGB designing espionage equipment, including a listening device stored in a plaque that was given to the U.S. Ambassador to Russia that went undiscovered for seven years. Theremin would die in Moscow in 1993, at the age of 97.

Leon Theremin playing his namesake invention

Essentially what a theremin does is sense the position of the player's hands through two antennas and control oscillators for frequency with one hand, and volume with the other, so it can be played without being touched. With Led Zeppelin, Jimmy used a Sonic Wave brand Theremin produce by I.W. Turner Incorporated out of New York. How and when Jimmy got his hands on the theremin is unknown.

Jimmy primarily used the theremin on three songs, Dazed and Confused, No Quarter, and most notably, Whole Lotta Love.

In a deleted scene from the film "It Might Get Loud" Jimmy demonstrates his use of a theremin to The Edge and Jack White, remarking with a laugh, "It doesn't got six strings, but it's a lot of fun!"