Nickel-Plated Brass Rod
The theremin looks great with a 50cm aluminum rod. But as aluminum oxidizes easily the contact with the antenna connector is a little shaky. So why not use real heavy nickel-plated brass rods? Nickel-plated brass tubing is not so easy to find. This is why I decided to by brass tubes and plate them my self... here is the result:
Nickel-Plated Brass Rods
This is the setup I used for the electro-plating (galvanic bath with nickel anode and nickel electrolyte).
A nice how-to can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0xFlIQ9MhQ
Aluminium, Brass and Nickel-plated Rods