U87 Capsule reversal?

I just aquired a Neuman U87, after inspecting it I found the rear capsule to be in much worse condition than the front. Has anyone ever tried flipping the capsule around? By this I mean actually disconnecting the leads from the capsule, flipping the capsule around and reconnecting the leads to the side now facing them. I was'nt sure if the capsule was polarized in some way that connecting it backwards would have negative effects.

Flipping the capsule is a common last-resort fix for (cardioid/dual) capsules, including the KK87..

Jakob E.

Just out of curiosity, why would this be a last resort? Are there some downsides to doing this?

..yep, it's a sign that the capsule starts to fall apart - and omni&fig8 won't work well anymore..

Gotcha, thanks for the help! I think I will flip & clean the capsule and also replace all the Electrolytics. Are there any mods you reccomend, or should I just stick with factory?

I don't really think it would be worth the effort to change electrolytics - the ones used by Neumann seems to last forever..

Jakob E.

IMO u87s are a fine microphone stock. The tant caps have a forming voltage. From looking at pictures on ebay over the years of modded U87s it looks like the tant from the drain to the transformer might be changed to a poly something. Maybe another mod would be to change the fet(and source R) to a different number/company process 50 one etc.

I also guess the higher output level reported with some modded u87s could be the removal (note the high end rise)or modding of the feedforward network.
http://www.soundfirst.com/kh01.html