LYRICON II LATE 70'S - EARLY 80'S ELECTRONIC WIND-FLUTE-SYNTHESIZER

$

820

Up for sale is an EXTREMELY RARE (so much so, that there hasn't been a listing for one on Ebay in years!) and VERY UNIQUE Musical instrument called The LYRICON II (2). The Lyricon is an electronic wind instrument, the first such wind controller to be constructed.
The Lyricon II was also a two-oscillator synthesizer (unlike the First Lyricon = 1). All the Lyricons used the same saxophone style fingering system, with two octave keys above the left-hand thumb rest. The Lyricon II also had a transposition footswitch feature, where a foot pedal could be used to transpose the entire range up or down one octave. 
Invented by the late Bill Bernardi (passed away on February 2nd, 2014) (and co-engineered by Roger Noble. It was manufactured by Computone Inc. in Massachusetts in the early 1970s. Resembling a soprano saxophone it used a form of additive synthesis, the player was allowed to change between types of overtones with a key switchable between fundamentals of G, Bb, C, Eb, and F (allowing the instrument to be used to play transposed parts written for saxophones, trumpets, etc.) and an octave range that could be switched between low, medium, or high. The instrument used a bass clarinet mouthpiece, with a sprung metal sensor on the (non-vibrating) reed that detected lip pressure. Wind pressure was detected by a diaphragm, which moved and changed the light output from an LED, which was in turn sensed by a photocell to give dynamic control. This propiretary piece of the mouthpiece would eventually go bad rendering the instrument practically unplayable.
Famous Music Artists that used the Lyricon / Lyricon 2:
IAN ANDERSON, KENNY G[2], Micha? Urbaniak, Yusef Lateef, Lenny Pickett, Courtney Pine, David Roach, TOM SCOTT[2], WAYNE SHORTER[2], Bruno Spoerri, Pedro Eustache, Milano Boy, etc.
The Lyricon reacts to wind pressure (the harder you blow, the louder the sound), lip pressure (for pitch bend and vibrato) and of course to changes in pitch by fingering. Both the Lyricon I and the Lyricon II are such Extremely rare and covetted instruments that even a Lyricon in questionable shape (that needs repair) can go for sale for up to $750, a working Lyricon I could go up to $2500, a working Lyricon II between $500 and $2000 or so. Cosmetically this particular Lyricon appears to in Fantastic Shape! It certainly rates a 10 out of 10! Electronically about a 4 out of 10. 
Most Lyricons that haven't been played for a few years, don't function well anymore. The membrane in the transducer gets hard, and the Lyricon doesn't respond to wind pressure anymore. The Lyricon may produce a continuous sound with no noticeable change in volume or pitch. This usually means the proprietary membrane needs to be replaced, a time consuming and tedious repair job. Especially the Lyricon I has fragile 1970's style electronics inside, that can have a temperament... 
Up to a few years ago, the only person who could really repair them was the inventor himself: Bill Bernardi. But unfortunately Bill passed away in February 2014. Lyricon player Jorrit Dijkstra and electronic technician David O’Brien are helping the Bernardi family to continue the Lyricon legacy, and to set up a small repair business. The Bernardi family has given David exclusive access to Bill’s archive of documentation and spare parts. Please contact David O’Brien if you want your Lyricon repaired. 
Please, note that as stated in Condition of unit: Due to poor health this item is being SOLD AS IS. Also note AC Cord is not the original one and needs to be pushed into ac prongs securely. Also, note that I am including BOTH The Operations Manual for the Lyricon II as well as the operations Manual for the Lyricon I (probably worth a bit just on its own!) Also, including other  paraphernalia on this.
Shipping charges will be the same to all areas of the Country and I will also ship international using Ebay's Global Shipping Service.
Thanks, for looking..! jesparza3k6d

PLEASE NOTE: I HAVE FOUND THE ORIGINAL AC CORD ! SO, PLEASE DISREGARD THE ORIGINAL NOTE ABOUT THE POWER CORD.