messy ventura
65 posts
Apr 13, 2013
7:54 PM
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I picked up a 707A mic w/stand at the local swap meet . The paint and tag are pretty faded no dents and the grill is good. Nice "patina" one could say. I'm almost
sure the element is shot. Can only make out the numbers on it to be 99 131 on top and 1044 on bottom. The two screws that hold the grill in place are at 12 & 6 oclock instead of 9 & 3 oclock . Does that signify anything ? How hard is it to bring this mic into working order? What's the degree of difficulty installing a switchcraft connector in the cable hole ? I am assuming this would be the hardest part. Then solder wires to new element ? Possibly new Gasket? I'm happy with Greg's inline volume controls so I don't need to one in the mic. Just asking if any of the mic guys out there might advise me as to what I need to do to restore this ol' mic back to life. (and why the heck is the grill vertical instead of horizontal ? )
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shbamac
304 posts
Apr 13, 2013
8:08 PM
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The older 707a's and some of the other Shure shells have a vertical instead of horizontal grill. Why Shure did this, who knows. All of those will be the smaller shell. Which is more desirable to some people. Unless it is one someone has modified. The element is an older Shure crystal. Most likely shot indeed. You need a new one. There are people here that have elements for sale (Greg, myself and others) or there is all ways eBay. It is not that difficult to install a screw-on connector. Some would tell you otherwise. But if you don't all ready have the tools you are better off sending it to someone like Greg. It would cost you about the same to buy all the tools you need.
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jbone
1230 posts
Apr 14, 2013
6:01 AM
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Keeping the shell in place to drill it out is a trick in itself. I had a local guy, a friend, get my 707a going a couple of years ago. He had offered to paint it but did a couple of other things to it as well. He tied the cable in a knot inside the shell and tossed the relief spring away. Instead of a gasket he used clear silicone to capture and place the element in the shell. Then a nice flame paint job and it's been a good mic ever since.
By the way a friend sent me a nice cm element and it's been in this shell for about 8 years now. Not a crystal but sounds very good even so.
If you do get your hands on a good crystal element, and decide to solder it in, HEAT SINK. Put pigtails on the lugs using just the amount of heat and solder needed to put these short leads on the lugs and let them cool. Then when soldering the cable to the pigtails use some method to draw the heat away from the element. I fried a crystal that was my age a few years ago because I wanted a better cable on it. the 6 foot ugly gray cable had to go. Result was I lost a really great element through ignorance!
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messy ventura
66 posts
Apr 14, 2013
9:25 AM
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Thanks shbamac & jbone . I am fairly good w/an airbrush but pretty ignorant electronically. I have a few other shells that need drilling too so I'm probably better off having Greg handle it. I'll just stick to the kustom paint end of things.
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