LDC cleaning question (414), any ideas?

[nestle]

I just picked up my AKG 414 the other day and I heard a rattle in the basket of the mic. I was concerned about the object hiting the diaphram so I opened the thing up. It was some tiny plastic shard, but what alamed me was lots of dust and crap on the diaphram. My intitial response was to blow on it, but caught myself.. how in the world do you clean these things without sending it to an expensive team of Austrian scientists in white lab coats..I don't have that kind of $$$ Should I even bother cleaning it?

[eeldip]

i think a search on the board might help you. if i remember correctly there is some disagreement on the issue, we went over it before, perhaps on the old board. dont take any of my advice without a grain of salt. i no expert be.

first, i would be less concerned about dust than i would "gunk". "gunk" totally changes the sound of the mic, is that your "crap"? it is little stuck on bits of "shit" that at somepoint came from someone's mouth.

i have cleaned diaphrams before. it is a very careful operation. you need a steady hand, a good work surface and the right tools. some way to hold the mic absolutely still. some sort of clamp.

then some distilled water, and some sort of microfiber pads. an eyedroper might help. i wouldnt trust a q-tip. swiffers are made of microfibers, but you might want to look around to see if you can find a finer weave.

anyway, the safest way to clean is to set up the diaphram on an angle, use an eyedropper and drip some distilled water on the spot. put a microfiber pad below the diaphram and collect the run-off. if you do this over and over again, you will clean your diaphram by erosion.

from what i read, this is how neuman does it. dont trust me on this.

if that doesnt do it- i would jump in and gently wipe a slightly moistened pad over the diaphram. they are designed to take a certain amount of pressure- say about as much as a big ass pop from your mouth. dont press harder than that (you can practice on your finger or wrist. sing a loud POW right on your wrist, feel the pressure, then wipe your wrist with a similar force).

also, you dont need to go nuts and get the thing super clean, just get the bulk of the junk off of it. all diaphrams have a measure of crap on them. dont injure the thing trying to get it hospital clean.