A copper DIY microphone case "plumber's mic"

[pinchemotherloaf]

Another experimental mic I made (almost 20 years ago) using copper pipe fittings, steel garden screen, some brass strips/screws, and some wood(!) Drilled and tapped everything. Idea was to make a body out of hardware store items. Kelly, of course, pointed out the acoustical deficiencies! Stuffing a bunch of felt around the cap might help! But, it was just experimental, not really that serious of an attempt. Just fun. That resistor ladder was my idea of using a bunch of 20m resistors to make a large one for grid leak/cap bias, what a mess! I made 2 more short bodies as well. The saddle is the most 'exotic' part of it. Using telephone wire was appropriate (was doing a lot of that work at the time!) Anyone have any 'improvements' to this idea??

 

[doqmemory]

That's some fun-looking DIY!

I would suggest rethinking the entire top endcap. The screen pitch is very large, so a second layer of finer screen, slanted wrt the existing screen, would seem to be a good idea. The top cap also looks much too large and does not have opening at the top. The typical approach I have seen is to cut side and top windows and line them with one or two screen layers (brass, if possible). See the way Ben Sneesby does this for the Oliver microphone, for instance.

Copper (and brass) can also be easily nickel plated, but I dig the raw copper look.

How does it sound?

 

[pinchemotherloaf]

That's some fun-looking DIY!

I would suggest rethinking the entire top endcap. The screen pitch is very large, so a second layer of finer screen, slanted wrt the existing screen, would seem to be a good idea. The top cap also looks much too large and does not have opening at the top. The typical approach I have seen is to cut side and top windows and line them with one or two screen layers (brass, if possible). See the way Ben Sneesby does this for the Oliver microphone, for instance.

Copper (and brass) can also be easily nickel plated, but I dig the raw copper look.

How does it sound?

Thanks for the input! I have thought about doing my own brazing a while back. To cut the cap into a 'U' shape and braze screen into it, Maybe by pushing screen into a small glass to shape the screen, cutting it square and braze into each side of the U.

As I remember it didn't sound that great. Cheap cap and the acoustic 'issues' made for some weird output.

 

[earlfsmith]

Another experimental mic I made (almost 20 years ago) using copper pipe fittings, steel garden screen, some brass strips/screws, and some wood(!) Drilled and tapped everything. Idea was to make a body out of hardware store items. Kelly, of course, pointed out the acoustical deficiencies! Stuffing a bunch of felt around the cap might help! But, it was just experimental, not really that serious of an attempt. Just fun. That resistor ladder was my idea of using a bunch of 20m resistors to make a large one for grid leak/cap bias, what a mess! I made 2 more short bodies as well. The saddle is the most 'exotic' part of it. Using telephone wire was appropriate (was doing a lot of that work at the time!) Anyone have any 'improvements' to this idea?View attachment 87338View attachment 87339View attachment 87340View attachment 87341View attachment 87342View attachment 87343View attachment 87344View attachment 87345View attachment 87346?

It would be nice to see the bottom

 

[swpaskett]

Wow, an honest mic builder! Most people would claim it sounds better than <name you $$$$ mic>, but more mellow and with a bit of punch in the midrange and maybe a hint of nutmeg and cinnamon. There is a lot of science behind mics that people just aren't born knowing, and usually home brew mics both look and sound home brewed. (I have just started playing the mic building game myself. I haven't built one yet that I would give away or show on any forum). Most mic builders have no clue how (or facilities) to actually test their mics, so it's always their ears against yours. I have no advice to offer, being a noob at this, but it was refreshing to see some honest work and read an honest man's appraisal.

 

[mrgrooves666]

That looks very cool! Don't you get any RFI with that open mesh? Maybe add a second layer of a tighter one..?

 

[dale116dot7]

This was my take on it, roughly 20 years ago also. I used a lathe to make the bottom fitting and used two layers of mesh from McMaster-Carr. The mounting Is thin threaded rod, damped with epichlorohydrin vacuum hose. The capacitors and resistors are mounted on a small turret board. The capsule is DIY, I’ve since replaced it, someone on here made an M7 mount (sorry, i don’t remember who) so I took this mount out and used it instead. It actually sounds quite good.

 

[Gus]

Good to see you post. I remember this microphone build and the way you biased it.

 

[P.O.]

I did a sorta similar build, for a ribbon mic (ribbon motor by Artur Fisher).

 

[pinchemotherloaf]

I did a sorta similar build, for a ribbon mic (ribbon motor by Artur Fisher).View attachment 87376

Very Neat Idea!

 

[pinchemotherloaf]

That looks very cool! Don't you get any RFI with that open mesh? Maybe add a second layer of a tighter one..?

Thanks! Never ran it much. I don't remember rfi or ac issues. It just didn't have a good acoustic design so the idea was shelved and It became more of a 'sculpture' than mic.

 

[Whoops]

Great thread,
it's refreshing to see pure DIY in a DIY forum instead of all the commercial kits and dodgy businesses...

Thank you for sharing

 

[JMc]

Steam punk microphones! Love it!!

 

[flashlamp]

interesting i purchased some copper tubing trying to transplant a presonus pm2 km84 clone trying to they sound kind like a 60s senhiser 405 or km84 i wanted to make a directional mic one of them they come in set of 2. anyway i have 2 c451's , I have a ck8 though i actually really like these little mics the neat thing is you can unscrew the capsules just like a cms akg mic.

 

[Jeremy.Starseed]

I bet it sounds "open", "warm"...and "tubey"

Just kidding. Seriously cool piece!

 

[3nity]

I remember I had a piece of pipe like 2" diameter. My goal was to build a mic using the pipe but never came around..true diy is not dead!

 

[pinchemotherloaf]

I bet it sounds "open", "warm"...and "tubey"

Just kidding. Seriously cool piece!

No, it didn't sound so good. I just finished this one today and it does sound fairly decent:

Cheap 'n easy mic body

 

[Garagescience]

I did a sorta similar build, for a ribbon mic (ribbon motor by Artur Fisher).View attachment 87376what method did you use to cut the ovoid orifice? Looks nice!

 

[P.O.]

I made most of it using a rather large half-rounf file... started in the middle, and carved my way until it was to my taste, finishing with finer files. Front and back are made the same way.

 

[Garagescience]

Nice! Thanks for the tip!