The F-1

[made in maine]

Hi everyone,
My name is Steven and i've been reading these post for quite some time, I have to say that there are some brilliant minds in this place and I have learned more here than all those collage courses I spent to much money on. Like most of you all I have been playing and recording music for a long time now and just love everything about it.  about 14 years ago I decided to learn another trade so i could play music and not worry about the money/living part of this whole thing(like most of you). Maine has some incredible gemstones and i've been a rockhound since I was a young boy so it made sense to learn jewelry/gem cutting/gemology (so I could play music).  about 3 or four years ago I was reading a post about microphones on the forum and someone had said "the world needs more microphone makers" and something clicked !(who ever wrote this thank you )
from that point on my spare time I started making microphones and for a while they all sounded like chiz, krap, mud, but I'm a gemcutter and I knew it would take a while and the one thing I have is tenacity, so i kept making them until they sounded good.  I mean I went as far as making alloys for tranny laminations, learning cnc and messing around with titanium and berylium based alloys with a host of different metals
for ribbon material and condenser material. blah,blah blah
I wanted to share with you guys my first good mic, the f-1 velocity mic, I  have since designed four other microphones, (2 ribbons, one dynamic and one condenser) but i figure i'll start with the f-1. So here it is, its not your normal looking mic for sure, all hand made in house, please all feedback is encouraged, the good, the bad and the ugly... thank you!!

 

[mad.ax]

Wow! Quite a different look!
Let me be the first who ask for guts shoots as around here people like to take a peek under the hood you know...?

Axel

 

[pasarski]

Very nice! I want to see it naked also

 

[jackies]

Wooohoo!
This is surely a different looking microphone!
It's bound to find some use in some "niche" studio.
Now, did you make the capsule and stuff too?
What's inside?

 

[creal]

very nice, congratulation

 

[strangeandbouncy]

Hi,



    wowsers!


  ANdyP ;D

 

[Gus]

Beryllium?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryllium

Toxicity is toward the bottom of the link

 

[MHanson]

That's a very interesting and different looking microphone.  I'm looking forward to hearing more about this.

Thanks,
Michael

 

[V9977]

Very nice-looking mic indeed!
What does it sound like I wonder?

 

[Igor]

WOW!
Cool!
Please more!

 

[made in maine]

It sounds great!, of course on guitars, also for nice silky vocals and just about anything so far, I do have some testing gear and working on some plots so I should have data like that also..
Thanks for all the nice comments!! its got a nice long ribbon and some strong ass magnets and also matched very well to the transformer for loading sake, i'll post some pics soon I have to dig thru some flash cards and also i'll post some audio as soon as I can.
one of the newest mics i'm workin on has a hollowed out stone base where the tranny goes, and the ribbon assembaly is floating so it eleminates the need for a stinkin shock mount.. and  I have since the beginning of my jewelry/metal career guarrenteed everything I make for as long as I'm alive, and I feel like theres no need to stop at jewelry, this is a mic made in the U.S.A. all of it, imagine that!! and also about 30% percent post consumer materials.. so it's a friendly mic for the fish and birdies and helps out fellow musicians, imagine that!

thanks again,  p.s. thanks Gus for the concern I only use very, very, small percentages of berylium and have a vent hood, something around 1% it does great things for metal, silver, copper ect..........
thanks again everyone!!

 

[ncoak]

that's  nuts!

 

[Meathands]

Thanks for the inspiration.  That is true dedication and craftsmanship.