What to do with the working bottom half of a borked Sm57?

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midwayfair

midwayfair

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 7, 2015
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606
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Baltimore
I got a broken SM57 off e-bay, and I'm pretty sure it's a dead coil. (Everything south of the coil works and all connectivity was good from the magnet on down.) There was also a lot of corossion and the cap lock (the little metal springy thing inside the cap) was broken, so it was basically impossible to put the cap back on.

The bottom half of the mic works, but a replacement capsule is almost the price of a new mic. Is there anything worth doing with what's left over?
 
analogguru said:
Why don't you buy a cheap chinese SM57 clone capsule for $ 5,-- - $ 100,-- on evilbay ?
Click to expand...

Is it worth buying one of those? I wasn't sure if the transformer or the capsule was the more worthwhile half of a 57.
 
At least it looks afterwards like a SM57 again.  Some people even disconnect the transformer for an allegedely better sound.  (If you remove the transformer carefully and sell it, you could even finance the new capsule.)
 
signalflow said:
https://reverb.com/item/29451293-shure-r57-replacement-cartridge-for-sm56-and-sm57-microphones
Click to expand...

I don't know if it's still the case, but it used to be slightly cheaper to pay the flatrate repair fee for an SM57 than to buy a new cartridge.

Still cheaper than buying a new microphone outright, though. The price isn't really the issue, I bought the broken one in part because I was rolling the dice on it being something repairable. (I've gotten two RE20s for about $100 in the past that turned out to be severed wires or other easy fixes.)
 
midwayfair said:
Is it worth buying one of those? I wasn't sure if the transformer or the capsule was the more worthwhile half of a 57.
Click to expand...
I bought a lot of 4 for about $12 a couple years ago from Ali express, to replace a dead capsule in my 75th anniversary 57. Sounds as good as new.
 
Ive had luck fixing a few of the unidyne predecessors of the 57.
Either side of the capsule is some yellow tape , its in a little slot and it covers and holds the very thin magnet wire exiting from the coil . Sometimes you can get a break in this wire, its often because the mic was dropped and then clumsily reassembled  . If you apply a little heat with a hair dryer you can lift the tape starting low down and moving upwards , it will reveal if the wire is still intact or not , its delicate work but it is possible to reconnect /resolder . You probably best use a tweezers to lift the tape ,then an x-acto blade to lift the broken ends of the magnet wire before tinning/ resoldering  . Ive done a few of my own mics this way and they worked away great ever since.
 
Tubetec said:
Ive had luck fixing a few of the unidyne predecessors of the 57.
Either side of the capsule is some yellow tape , its in a little slot and it covers and holds the very thin magnet wire exiting from the coil . Sometimes you can get a break in this wire, its often because the mic was dropped and then clumsily reassembled  . If you apply a little heat with a hair dryer you can lift the tape starting low down and moving upwards , it will reveal if the wire is still intact or not , its delicate work but it is possible to reconnect /resolder . You probably best use a tweezers to lift the tape ,then an x-acto blade to lift the broken ends of the magnet wire before tinning/ resoldering  . Ive done a few of my own mics this way and they worked away great ever since.
Click to expand...

None of the wires were broken in this one, the cap had come off and the lock for it was broken and a bunch of stuff was corroded inside. Even if the cap lock wasn't broken, reseating the diaphragm would be like reconing a half inch speaker, not really something I can do.
 
Ahh right if the diaphragm is mangled its game over .
I must keep an eye out for non working Re-20's , Ive read up on them before and theres a few simple/easy to fix things go wrong with them , theres a reason the RE-20 came with a lifetime warranty .
No doubt its one of the best most versatile dynamic mics of all time .
 

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