Plating Peeling Off Magnets in Ribbon Mics

Hey Folks,

I've got a couple of  Chinese ribbon mics that are both about 10 years old.  On both of them, the plating is peeling of the neodymium magnets and will eventually get in the way of the ribbon.  Any tips on how to remedy this problem?

Thanks,
Craig

Ouch.  Probably magnet replacement. 

Yuck.  Don't know how to pry the old ones off.

craigmorris74 said:

Hey Folks,

I've got a couple of  Chinese ribbon mics that are both about 10 years old.  On both of them, the plating is peeling of the neodymium magnets and will eventually get in the way of the ribbon.  Any tips on how to remedy this problem?

Thanks,
Craig

Click to expand...

The plating is not very useful, unless you store your mics in humid atmosphere, so I would suggest you carefully peel what comes loose, and prevent further peeling by stabilizing with superglue. Of course you must make sure you don't spill superglue in the ribbon. You need to use the superglue that comes with a brush and apply a very thin layer. Alternatively you can use a Q-tip to brush the glue.

abbey road d enfer said:

The plating is not very useful, unless you store your mics in humid atmosphere, so I would suggest you carefully peel what comes loose, and prevent further peeling by stabilizing with superglue. Of course you must make sure you don't spill superglue in the ribbon. You need to use the superglue that comes with a brush and apply a very thin layer. Alternatively you can use a Q-tip to brush the glue.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip!

I just repaired a couple of Apex ribbons that had the exact same issue. I popped the magnets out (one of them was peeling so badly it damaged the ribbon)  I replaced the 1/8" X 1/8"X 2"  magnets with  1/4" X 1/8" X 2" magnets. Since I was that far into it I replaced the ribbons as well. They advertise that the ribbons are 2.5 micron but that's a lie. I've got 2.5 micron material and it's way thinner than what was in there. I'd guess 6 micron. So anyway, I replaced the ribbons with new 1.2 micron material. And swapped out the transformers for Cinemags. Huge difference! Before they were a pretty crappy sounding, boring mic. Now they are contenders in the mic locker.

Here's an A-B comparison:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHbMIyWHUJE