Microphone Choices:

TIME FOR THE TRUTH / ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS...

With the road-weary HARPMOBILE cooling its power tubes in the bunker next to the MIC DUNGEON, the perimeter blast doors secured, and my spine readjusting to life on land, it's about time to crack open the secret file marked "Correspondence / Questions". IT'S TIME FOR THE TRUTH! A good number of TIN SANDWICH disciples have made inquiries covering a wide range of mic-related subjects over the past several months, and now's a good time to thumb through the dossiers and offer-up answers (or solutions) to as many of these as possible...

"HEY FRITZ! I gig in a lot of bars and taverns, and the stuff that collects on the floors in these places (beer, food, soda pop, the scum off the bottoms of biker's and cowboy's boots) gets all over my mic cables. I wind-up the cables and it gets all over my hands! Should the cables go in the dishwasher?" - signed DIRTY JOB.

Dear DIRTY JOB: The dishwasher's probably NOT your best bet. While it's true that the heat and detergents associated with that labor-saving appliance will de-grease and help to disinfect your wires, the heat they generate can wreak havoc on the cable's insulation and the detergent (not to mention the water) can cause corrosion and continuity problems with the connectors and conductors. TRY THIS: Carry a small can of spray furniture polish (Pledge, Old English, etc.) and a terrycloth rag in a Ziploc bag in your gig rig. At the end of the night (or whenever necessary), spray a shot of the polish into the rag, wrap the rag around one end of your cable, and then pull your cable through the rag as you wind it up. This works for rubber and rubber-like cables of all kinds (even the guitarist's cables, should you choose to tell him). For severe deposits of pubscum, try a shot of a non-detergent household cleaner (409, Fantastic, Citra-Solv) in a separate terrycloth rag first. This method also works fairly well on fabric-clad cables such as Tweed and Prism as long as friction is kept to a minimum so as not to fray the weave of the fabric. Hmmm, keeps your gig bag lemony-fresh, too!

"HEY FRITZ! I'm rewiring the insides of an old microphone I found. What gauge wire should I use?" - signed JUMPER CABLE.

Dear JUMPER CABLE: Unlike long runs of speaker cable where the capacity to handle extreme bursts of energy is essential and heavier gauges are necessary (some audiophiles use speaker wire that does indeed resemble jumper cable stock-especially for their sub-woofers), a good rule to employ is "Light is Alright" when doing low-current hook-up wiring for mic internals. Workability is more significant than current capacity. A stranded copper conductor, 24 up to 20 gauge in thickness, should prove compact and flexible enough (REMEMBER: The smaller the number, the thicker the wire). Solid and stranded wire will perform equally well at carrying signal, but the stranded conductor will prove easier to manage and more durable, particularly with repeated bending. Astatic had used a stranded wire that was "tinned" to give it soldering advantages and more rigidity than plain stranded. This works fine as well. Just remember that the wire is dependant on YOU to make the connections properly-so solder with care!

More sonic truths and MIC SECRETS REVIELED... Next time, on THE MIC BENCH.

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED (Email them to me at HARPMICMAN@earthlink.net).

For pictures and descriptions of most of the microphones listed visit http://www.harmonicamasterclass.com/vintage_collection.htm

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