Unmarked Microphone bodies and parts (SYT-5, CU-49, HT-11A, GT-2B, and U47)

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Update on current status of several out of stock items:

I have not been able to contact one of my factory representatives for nearly 2 months which is highly unusual.  We had a completed production run of SYT-5 Gen3 bodies that at last account was going in for re-plating.  This contact was one of my best working relationships in China, and we were on very good terms, and we were able to accomplish a lot while working together.  I knew that his father had serious medical issues that he was contending with, but communication until that point was ongoing regardless of progress on production runs.  Recently, I contacted the factory directly, and they also have not heard from him in quite some time.  I will reach out to a few other acquaintances in the US who had a longer personal history with him to see if they have heard from other members of his family.

This behavior is typical of a factory "ghosting" someone in the middle of a production cycle, but my faith in this working relationship is much higher than typical so I will not jump to that conclusion.  The more likely but far worse possibility is that something bad has happened to my factory contact. 

I am awaiting more information and will be following up with a new factory representative to assess the status of parts completed as well as tooling that I sent to them for headbasket production.  Payments were made in full but sent to my missing factory representative, so the status of parts in production is uncertain as well as what funds were already submitted to the factory.

This primarily effects SYT-5 Gen 3 parts and type 1 HT-11A headbaskets.  I apologize for the continued delays for these parts.  I know many of you have been waiting for an exceedingly long time already.  As of right now, things are a mess.

In the interim, I have inquired about a production run of Gen 1 SYT-5 bodies from ShuaiYin, and am awaiting their response. 
 
hello Chunger,
are you still active? I would like to order some CU49 on your website.
I tried to send you an email but no answer...
please let us know.

best regards,
 
Hi guys,

I apologize for the recent delays.  We had a bit of a hiccup in the production of the ceramic composite PCB's that we use for the C12 microphone boards, but Matador was able to get that ironed out with the fab.  Because of that, there was a backlog of C12 related parts orders that were severely delayed.  I believe I have reached out to all of the people whos orders were effected, but that specific backlog is nearly cleared out right now.

I have unfortunately completely lost contact with one of my factory representatives that was one of my most reliable partners to date which is quite unfortunate.  The situation could very well be the most common scam/ghosting behavior from Chinese factories that I have experienced in the past, but my suspicion is worse.  I think something very bad may have happened to him as there were multiple financial and personal life situations piled on top of each other.  Nobody from the factory or mutual friends have heard from him in months now.  There are indicators pointing towards scam and other indicators pointing towards tragedy.  Either way, the results practically speaking are the same.

What that means for me, is that I have 100% lost a fully paid production run of SYT-5 gen 3 bodies which is something that I figured would happen at one point or another when importing things in this manner.  It is unfortunate, but also the reason I do not do any pre-orders for anything.  Yes, I am woefully delayed in my shipping and order handling often, but there is never a guarantee that quality and delivery of ordered products will happen.  I only sell things in the webstore that I have in my hands confirmed.

What this means practically is that I need to work through a different factory contact to re-confirm via production samples all of the items that I purchased through him as he was physically on the factory floor confirming production details and insisting things get re-done when not up to spec .  This includes the SYT-5 gen 3 bodies that have gone through a couple of iterative changes.  All of the tooling should still be in place, however.

In the interim, I have re-ordered the first gen SYT-5 body as a quality brass option as well as another run of the Budget YT-5 body which is a cast zinc alloy/aluminum construction but quite affordable.  Those will be incoming on the next incoming shipment.  I am also asking for samples for the Gen 3 bodies to see if we can get those back on track from the same factory that I worked with to develop them, but with a different Chinese contact coordinating with the factory on the production runs as I have lost touch with my original contact.

HT-11A bodies have also been ordered and will be coming in the next production run.  The Type 1 headbaskets will be problematic from the same factory drama, but all other headbasket types are solidly in stock at this time.  The order quantity is quite large so once I receive the order, they should stay in stock for quite a long time as they did last time.

Regularly placed orders are all in queue at this time, and I am pushing to clear that shipping queue in the next week.
 
Hi Chunger, thanks a lot for the update. Sorry you have to got hrough all this headaches. Could you share what differences are to be expected between gen1 and gen3 of SYT-5 bodies ? Thanks again,
Manuel.
 
Avgatzeblouz said:
Hi Chunger, thanks a lot for the update. Sorry you have to got hrough all this headaches. Could you share what differences are to be expected between gen1 and gen3 of SYT-5 bodies ? Thanks again,
Manuel.

The headbasket meshing is different.  The screw configuration for securing the headbasket to the body is different (2 screw instead of 3 screw) which is a little annoying for assembly, but not the end of the world.  The base threading for shock mount is different.  The Gen 3 body used an M25 threaded base, and the Gen 1 uses an M27 threaded base which shares the same shock mount as the Alctron GT-2B microphone.  Otherwise, the bodies are quite similar.  The internal mounting points and dimensions are the same so PCB's and kits are cross compatible.
 
So sorry to hear this, Chunger. I assumed they "ghosted" as you've mentioned before, which is very bad.

I've been to China but not to factories specifically. Still, your experiences match others I've heard about. And COVID made a huge mess.

Let's just hope you will be able to find someone related who can help recover your investment in the SYT-5 someday!
 
Hi chunger,

Any estimation on the HT11A bodies?

I'd love to get the HT11A body and the TPS100 PSU.
 
Just curious if anyone knows approximate turnaround time from chunger?

I ordered a pair of m49 bodies 3 weeks ago. They appear to be in stock but I haven’t heard anything yet. I’m in California as well.
 
Haven’t ordered anything for a long time, but I’ve seen it take up to over a month before an order was shipped out. He can take a while at times, but has always come through.
 
Recording Engineer said:
Haven’t ordered anything for a long time, but I’ve seen it take up to over a month before an order was shipped out. He can take a while at times, but has always come through.

Nailed it! Order shipped today. Thanks for the reassurance!
 
M49 bodies came super fast! Thanks @chunger!!

Does anyone know where I can get decent cases for these? No need for anything fancy but utility enough to protect the babies that these will soon become.
 
egroys said:
M49 bodies came super fast! Thanks @chunger!!

Does anyone know where I can get decent cases for these? No need for anything fancy but utility enough to protect the babies that these will soon become.
I have Ami m49 bodies, and the sale a nice wooden box case
 
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