U47-style bodies - who can make one?

[Skylar]

Looks like the mic body protos will be shipped to me before next Wednesday.

Of course, I will be at SXSW in Austin, TX that Wed-Sun, so I may gone when these arrive!

But by the 23rd, I should have some photos posted of the prototypes (if not earlier)!

 

[Skylar]

imo, your PM box is full!

 

[Lee]

I've been following this project from the beginning and can't believe how far it has come. Many thanks Skylar for all your hard work and time involved. I'm good for at least one and probably two. Lee

 

[synchroman]

Really Nice work Skylar! Wow....

Count me in for 4

 

[Skylar]

Alright guys, I've decided the best way to handle this is under a company name that I created about a year ago, but have not yet used for anything.
(you may have noticed that I sometimes post links to files on my webspace, www.equinoxsystems.net)

So, for tax purposes, I'm going to sell these through my business name Equinox Systems.
This will also make it simpler for me to set up a business PayPal account, e-Commerce site, etc. which will make this whole process smoother for everyone I believe.

I am calling this project the EQU47 microphone body.


So, without further ado...


THE FEELER IS OPEN


Go to this link to participate in the survey:

EQU47 Survey

Please do not post your quantites here, just use the survey!

 

[matta]

Hey Skylar,

Thanks for being so thorough,  what a great survey! One thing I noticed is that the survey makes no provision for a power supply enclosure... is this still on the cards?

Cheers

Matt

 

[tommypiper]

I've tried twice to respond to your survey and it's telling me my email address is not valid!  And it's telling me my CAPTCHA responses are incorrect!  I give up!  I hate those things!  

Why not just start another thread here in the BM like everyone else?  They DO have survey abilities here on this site, you know....  

I was going to vote for the raw kit.  Why is the head basket unassembled?  What materials is it made of?  Therefore, how easy is it to assemble?  And why not offer the mesh in the raw materials kit?  

 

[Skylar]

Hey Skylar,

Thanks for being so thorough,  what a great survey! One thing I noticed is that the survey makes no provision for a power supply enclosure... is this still on the cards?

Cheers

Matt

Power supply enclosure is still in the cards...I just don't have enough info on that yet to include it as part of this survey.

 

[Moby]

Cool, great work but... Skylar I remember  you mentioned that you can beat the price of 100$ for full brass body. What happened in the meantime? From brass to Aluminium it should be cheaper  :-\

 

[Skylar]

I've tried twice to respond to your survey and it's telling me my email address is not valid!  And it's telling me my CAPTCHA responses are incorrect!  I give up!  I hate those things!  

Why not just start another thread here in the BM like everyone else?  They DO have survey abilities here on this site, you know....  

I was going to vote for the raw kit.  Why is the head basket unassembled?  What materials is it made of?  Therefore, how easy is it to assemble?  And why not offer the mesh in the raw materials kit?  

Not sure why it would say your email is invalid as long as the address is in [email protected] format.
I made the email address not a mandatory field, maybe that will fix it?
Anyone else having problems with the email box?

I also relaxed the CAPTCHA to make it easier to read.
I hate CAPTCHAs too, but with rampant bots everywhere, you can't really afford to go without.

I did not want to do a normal BM thread or implement the forum's built-in survey because the one I am using is more powerful and makes things like email alerts possible.


The Raw Kit does not include mesh, which is why it is unassembled. The headbaskets cannot be assembled without the mesh.
The headbasket is all brass and could be soldered, brazed, or welded together.

So, why not include the mesh?
The mesh adds a large expense, so by the time you add this cost to a Raw Kit, it's not far off of the Complete Kit cost because
I'm not charging for assembly labor. What I could do is go ahead and offer the mesh as part of the Raw Kit, but it would be a bit more.
The advantage of the Raw Kit is that you can choose your own mesh specs if you want.


tommypiper, if you're still interested, I'll add you to the survey results if the page is still giving you problems, and I apologize for the difficulties you have had—I'm trying to make it as smooth as possible.

 

[tommypiper]

OK, thanks.  I'll try again in a minute.  I'm on a Mac, and I've learned when things don't work on the web it's usually because sites aren't playing nice with us who are using the open-web-standards "minority." (read, not M$)    The CAPTCHAs rarely work for me, on any site.

Yes, I agree it's a good idea to be able to build one's own head basket and have the option to choose the mesh.  I plan to experiment, and try one basket with the original style three mesh, and another with fewer mesh layers.  Therefore, having the same raw materials with which to experiment will be vital to the experiment. 

So if you could offer the mesh, maybe on the side, per layer, that would be helpful.  For example, I would not need all three layers per raw kit.

I know the head basket has a major influence on tone, so I'm looking forward to trying several versions there and that's part of the beauty of DIY.

Likewise, offering the connectors separately to all, full or raw kits, will be appreciated.

EDIT:
CAPTCHAs and my email address still being rejected by your site!  (I wrote AT in my email, that's probly why.)  Anyway, I really give up now.  Just put me down for 3 raw, or 1 assembled, 2 raw.  Thanks!

 

[Skylar]

Cool, great work but... Skylar I remember  you mentioned that you can beat the price of 100$ for full brass body. What happened in the meantime? From brass to Aluminium it should be cheaper  :-\

Well, I was able to find places that could do the original design from page 9 for less than $100.

Some members pointed out that certain elements of the design (mainly the headbasket) would make the mic body very difficult to assemble.
Not to mention that the inner geometry of the "page 9" headbasket was not very close to the original; the "page 9" version is a 1-piece design versus 4-piece.

So, the headbasket evolved into something that is far truer to the original at the expense of extra cost.

Other elements of the design changed as well, becoming more expensive.
For instance, the end cap has a connector keyway and is externally/internally machine threaded to accommodate the binder 691 connector.

Overall on the final desin, there are just several more parts that must be machined.


So, on top of all this, there are extra expenses like shipping, assembly materials, tooling for mesh forming, finishing, etc. that add to the price.

The price estimates I listed are just estimates based on my costs to break even + a little extra in case other expenses come along.
If we break 100 the price is going down!

 

[Skylar]

OK, thanks.  I'll try again in a minute.  I'm on a Mac, and I've learned when things don't work on the web it's usually because sites aren't playing nice with us who are using the open-web-standards (read, not M$) "minority."     The CAPTCHAs rarely work for me, on any site! 

Yes, I agree it's a good idea to be able to build one's own head basket and have the option to choose the mesh.  I plan to experiment, and try one basket with the original style three mesh, and another with fewer mesh layers. 

I know the head basket has a major influence on tone, so I'm looking forward to trying several versions there.  However, having the same raw materials with which to experiment will be vital to the experiment.  So if you could offer the mesh, maybe on the side, that would be helpful.

Likewise, offering the connectors separately to all, full or raw kits, will be appreciated.

EDIT:
CAPTCHAs and my email address still being rejected by your site!  I really give up now.  Just put me down for 3 raw.  Thanks!

I'm sorry! What a pain in the ass!

I did not test the site with my Mac, so that's obviously a screw-up on my part. I'll see if I can fix it.
But, I'll put you in the results.


RE: mesh
I agree, and I think it's a great idea to go ahead and offer the mesh with the Raw Kit.

 

[Skylar]

Just an extra note...

I'll probably add a list of users who participated on the results page, so you can confirm your submission.

EQU47 Survey Results

 

[stitch-o]

OK, thanks.  I'll try again in a minute.  I'm on a Mac, and I've learned when things don't work on the web it's usually because sites aren't playing nice with us who are using the open-web-standards (read, not M$) "minority."     The CAPTCHAs rarely work for me, on any site! 

Yes, I agree it's a good idea to be able to build one's own head basket and have the option to choose the mesh.  I plan to experiment, and try one basket with the original style three mesh, and another with fewer mesh layers. 

I know the head basket has a major influence on tone, so I'm looking forward to trying several versions there.  However, having the same raw materials with which to experiment will be vital to the experiment.  So if you could offer the mesh, maybe on the side, that would be helpful.

Likewise, offering the connectors separately to all, full or raw kits, will be appreciated.

EDIT:
CAPTCHAs and my email address still being rejected by your site!  I really give up now.  Just put me down for 3 raw.  Thanks!

I'm sorry! What a pain in the ass!

I did not test the site with my Mac, so that's obviously a screw-up on my part. I'll see if I can fix it.
But, I'll put you in the results.


RE: mesh
I agree, and I think it's a great idea to go ahead and offer the mesh with the Raw Kit.

FWIW: Im on a G4 ibook and had no problem-o's

Cheers and GREAT work!

 

[Skylar]

Gotcha down, tommypiper.

 

[Davo]

Very cool, can't wait!!  Awesome job Skylar!!!!

 

[craptical]

The survey worked fine on my Intel MacBook! Sorry if this is a stupid Q, but the matte finish option is closest to orig, right?

Great work, Skylar!!!

/Dave

 

[MikoKensington]

Signed in.

 

[Skylar]

The survey worked fine on my Intel MacBook! Sorry if this is a stupid Q, but the matte finish option is closest to orig, right?

Great work, Skylar!!!

/Dave

I'm primarily talking about the headbasket finish as being Matte or Polished.

The body tube & end cap would be Matte to match the original, regardless of whether you chose Matte or Polished.

I'm sorry, I should have made that more clear.


So, the matte vs polished is really just the finish on the headbasket.

If anyone wants to change their submission based on this clarification, send me an email.

skylarra AT hotmail.com



Matte:

Polished: