bkbirge
Well-known member
Hey all, I've done a search and I don't see this mic discussed anywhere here. I've had many of these Altec "Saltshaker" microphones over the years. I sold most of them and still have 2. These are the Western Electric pre-Altec versions (identical). Anyway, neither of them work. I've taken them apart and the inside is very simple, just a magnet with a foil diaphragm (looks like any old dynamic kind of thing, spiral pattern) glued onto the top of the magnet. The magnets appear to have almost no magnetization and the foil on both of them is flaky to kind of an extreme level so 2 possibilities of death here.
1st question: is there a way to re-magnetize these magnets? 2nd: how would I go about refurbing or replacing the diaphragm? If the questions are vague please help me focus them, I'm new at this.
I have also thought about just getting a couple sm57 elements and a couple nice transformers (there's plenty of room in the housing) and turn them into frankensteins but in that case I wouldn't be sure of what transformers to get.
These aren't museum pieces, they're pretty used looking and have been repainted poorly at some point so no worries about destroying collector's items, I just want some vibey mics and tinkering time. Thanks for any help or pointers to knowledge you can give!
1st question: is there a way to re-magnetize these magnets? 2nd: how would I go about refurbing or replacing the diaphragm? If the questions are vague please help me focus them, I'm new at this.
I have also thought about just getting a couple sm57 elements and a couple nice transformers (there's plenty of room in the housing) and turn them into frankensteins but in that case I wouldn't be sure of what transformers to get.
These aren't museum pieces, they're pretty used looking and have been repainted poorly at some point so no worries about destroying collector's items, I just want some vibey mics and tinkering time. Thanks for any help or pointers to knowledge you can give!