It all started somewhere in the '70's with a toy instrument called the Tronichord. I stumbled upon it through a friend of mine who ownes one: Canadian Singer-songwriter Wilfred Kozub. Untill this day I've just found 1 at: www.Miniorgan.com where they mention this smallest omnichord ever built and even have shots of the original packaging! great site...I asked the CEO's at Suzuki Japan for some more background information, but they couldn't tell me, or didn't want to tell me, anything more about it:-)
Mr. Abe Thomas, the first American importer & currently running www.Qchord.net states he still has one somewhere...but where? I met him a couple of years ago at the Musikmesse in Frankfurt. I guess we can blame him for introducing omnichords to America. He still is a true believer. You can see where the click came from ( 2 baldly go etc...?)