graphite resistance controls

[svetengr at earthlink.net]

At 12:35 AM 10/11/97 +1000, you wrote:
>There is a type of conductive paper (graphite impregnated) used in physics
>teaching to demonstrate cross sections of electrostatic fields by 
>analogy......also, any rubber compound can be made conductive by including
>enough graphite (latex will take its own weight of graphite as filler I
>believe).

I have seen that--Science Resources used to sell it. You MIGHT also
find it in the Cole-Parmer, Edmund or other chemistry/physics catalogs.

Making your own is easy--just take an extra-large carpenter's pencil
with extra-soft lead, and rub it into the surface of a piece of
hardwood (or heavy paper with a matte surface). The wood is more
rugged and stable, and you can make connections to the graphite
layer with small brass nails or screws.

Also, DIYers who make their own electrostatic speakers can make very good
conductive diaphragms by simply rubbing powdered graphite (used as a
lubricant in locksmithing) into a sheet of Mylar. Come to think of it,
the powdered graphite would also work on the wood base. You rub it in
with considerable force using a dry cloth. Good exercise--builds up the
arm muscles.

>reminds me of the Hugh Le Carne(?spell) Electronic Sackbut which used a puck 
>shape to couple capacitively to several pie sections on a surface as a mixer..
>of course Le Caine(?spell)  was canadian hence the puckish approach ;)

Hugh Le Caine....funny that so much electronic-music technology came
from America, yet innovation in the CONTROLLER had to come from Canada....
American EM devices nearly ALWAYS used an organ keyboard.....

Think about non-keyboard instruments before 1960:
--Theremin was Russian
--Trautwein, German (the Trautonium used a ribbon controller)
--Le Caine, Canadian
--Gurov and Ivanov (developed fingerboard-controlled devices) were also Russian
--who else?

--and yet American innovators (Cahill, Gernsback, Hammond, Ranger, Allen,
etc.) all stuck with organ keys. The only big exception I can think of is
the RCA synthesizer.