Well, today is Mother's Day. And for Mother's Day, my wife wanted to go antiquing. So we hit a local antique mall....and look what sat in a booth for a whopping eight bucks.
An old Bell/Western Electric phone. That's right. There were a few more there of the same ilk, but not for $8. So, I jumped on it. Got it home and started dismantling it immediately.
First bit I got off was the earpiece, and found this delightful little unit.
Quite nice. Took me a while to get the mouthpiece unscrewed. In fact, I had to use a set of oil filter vise-grips to free it up. In there, I found a little dynamic unit.
Had a little plastic capsule piece that made the connections and held the element secure too. Unfortunately, I couldn't give it a test since I have not transformer to channel it.
But the earpiece unit had some pretty nice bright tone. Hear it here.
Doubt I'll keep the element in the phone's original housing. I'm sure I can come up with something more original to build a mic into. Any ideas or recommendations? I saw JaredSA built one out of an egg timer. Pretty neat idea. ----------
For casings did you see my thread with shower heads? It dropped off the front page without anyone commenting on it yesterday. It wouldn't work with this phone, but one of the old stick phones would be fun to convert into a double microphone for more intimate folksy performances... walk on stage, sit down, point the normal mouthpiece at your guitar and use the earpiece for the vocals and harp (I suppose you could mount something like that on a stand- turn the mic off by hanging up... I don't know why I'm thinking up such weird stuff lately. I wish I had a budget and a workshop. I'm all fidgety.
I always over complicate things. I would have wanted to use the dialer to change FX, or at least mic it for special percussion.
That element is carbon and worthless for harp. The speaker can make for a good harp mic. Especially if you pair it with impedance matching transformer. The older speakers are even better.
buy a classy vintage shell (preferably with good patina, ie beat up) and put a good Shure CM in it with the right gasket.
I've made mics from wooden salt shakers,plastic eggs and I've got a few tap handles that are chrome with fins and look great. I've tried dozens of different elements, and they all sound OK, but for me, nothing beats vintage shell and CM (haven't tried a good CR yet!).
It's counter-intuitive, but a phone speaker usually works better than the 'mic' as a mic.
I use a roll-on deodorant bottle as a case. Volume control and 1/4" jack in the base, element where the ball sits and lots of holes in the cap. Works a treat! Cheers Maka
Hawkeye...I made a bullet from the same phone this past fall. My son-in-law's mom gave it to me. It was her moms. Anyways, I used the ear piece and left it in its shell. Only I cut the handle off about 1/4" from the "bell". Wired it up with an xlr mic cord and it sounds pretty good. LOTS of handling noise though. If I'm not care full, my wedding ring can easily be heard tapping on it when I move my hands. I like the size of the original ear piece for in my hands. So I'll just use as is for the time being. Very hot though. Carefjll of the feedback. Nice find.
It works :) pretty trippy...I have one that's a little bigger for my wife to use to yell to me downstairs to turn down and when she does come down she can turn on the siren to let me know she is coming. I'm gunna have to incorporate it it into a song. How did it go over on your gig?
Well truth be told, that was almost a year ago. I haven't really used it in the ensuing time since. It was a fun little accessory that had a few uses on stage, like the siren on "Route 66". But overall, it's probably only useful as a busking tool, and busking is something I don't really have time for.
----------
Hawkeye Kane
Last Edited by HawkeyeKane on May 13, 2013 9:16 AM
That element you posted a link to is completely different. That is a dynamic element. What you have a carbon element. And from my experience they sound like shit. Though you may like it. Have fun with it.
A guy was walking out of my office building with the phone in his hand and I mentioned I had just gotten one and taken the receiver out of it for a harmonica mic. He proceeded to unscrew the recevier grill and snipped it off. Said he knew of a bunch more thatwee getting thrown away, and he'd try to salvage the elements for me. Yeah!!!
This one is definitely newer. Anyone know about the little cap between the terminals?
My understanding is that a carbon element needs to have a voltage passed through it to work. That would take additional circuitry to work - an amp doesn't supply such a voltage. The earpiece is a small speaker - i.e., dynamic element and will work. ---------- *************************************************** /Greg
There can be a "cool factor" to having or creating stuff like this. All of it doesn't have to be about perfect tone and can and should be about fun. If it ends up sounding like shit, then put it on the shelf as a neat conversation piece. Check out a cat named "Seasick Steve".
For shell's an aftermarket motorcycle signal light shell could work if you found the right diameter for those elements. You would have to come up with some kind of grill for it, but I'm sure I've seen some with a bezel holding in the lens that could be replaced with chrome mesh. Here's one without the bezel to give you an idea. http://www.jpcycles.com/product/306-812
I thought about the vehicle light enclosure thing before. Right now, I have a plan for a wood shell. I've been meaning to delve this project for a while now, just haven't had time yet. I'll keep everyone posted on the progress though. ----------
Good afternoon Hawk! thank you so much for plugging my services in the above megaphone video.
not a big deal, but it is Prah-dos rather than Praydose.
Praydose is what i did when i had my arthoplasty and the morphine didn't arrive from hospital pharmacy when i woke up in post op. These things can happen. Ow Ow! :-) ---------- MP affordable reed replacement and repairs.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
click user name [MP] for info- repair videos on YouTube. you can reach me via Facebook. Mark Prados
Last Edited by 
