Mic restoration

Blade · Post by **Blade** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 2:28 pm

Has anyone had an RCA mic restored, as far as being re-painted?

Any idea what it would cost?

I just bought this RCA 44 BK for $500.00 the other day....I couldn't pass this deal up! She sounds incredible!!!!!!!

Someone had it painted straight with the umber gray paint, but underneath it on the edges, I can see that it was black.

I e-mailed ENAK awhile back about a RCA 74 Jr. that I own and haven't heard back from them yet.

Thanks
-blade-

gregnrom · Post by **gregnrom** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 7:44 pm

I would call Clarence (at Enak) until you get a hold of him directly. He likes to deal with people personally. Emails are easy to put off for an old guy.
AEA does cosmetic restoration as well.
Be ready to shell-out the big $.

tonewoods · Post by **tonewoods** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 7:56 pm

Hell, if it sounds good, I'd do the re-paint and re-silk myself...

A 44 is a piece-of-cake to take apart and spray paint.

And pre-cut silks used to be available on ebay not not a lot of $$$...

Go for it, and protect that ribbon...

Professor · Post by **Professor** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 8:23 pm

Of course, taking it apart and spray-painting the mic won't increase its value any, it will just make it look different.
But true restoration should hopefully increase the value.

Of course, it's kinda hard to say what the value of vintage ribbons has been like lately. But a well-restored vintage ribbon should still be worth some cash, perhaps $2k-3k for a working and beautiful RCA 44.

Most of the mic could be stripped and show-chromed and the cost would probably be a couple hundred bucks. The grille, yoke, and other hardware parts look good in chrome. The bottom portion of the shell could be stripped down and enameled, and I'm not sure if that would be easier done yourself or by someone else. You would want to pay careful attention to the badges though as the RCA badge should end up looking right, and the serial number badge can't be replaced.

I agree that if it woulds good, then much of the work could be done yourself perhaps with the help of a metal chroming/enameling shop. If the mic doesn't need to be re-ribboned, and it's not rusted or corroding inside, and no internal parts are obviously missing or damaged, then the rest is cosmetic.

Here's a kinda dark photo an RCA 77d that I bought a few years back.

It was already restored when I bought it, so I'm not sure of the whole process that was done, but it does make a nice impression when people see it.

-Jeremy

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 7:18 am

ENAK's not exactly fast with the emails, but Clarence does a great job, is very personable and straightforward on the phone, and is reasonably priced. He's got a BK5 of mine right now, actually.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

hogfish · Post by **hogfish** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 9:11 am

Another vote for Clarence Kane.Earlier this year he did an Electro Voice V2 and I had him add a Lundahl 2911 and convert it to balanced operation.It took about 3 months, with phone calls about every 2 weeks to see how it was going. He takes his time, and does alot of work for many clients.He does great work.Highly recommended, especially for any of the Classic RCA Ribbon Mics.............

Blade · Post by **Blade** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 9:56 am

Thanks y'all for the info!

Maybe the best option is to just use the hell out of it the way it is, and then when I'm old and gray, I can get it restored and put on a shelf for display......LOL!

Nothing like a picture with 2 of my favorite things....
Great pic Professor.

-blade-

tonewoods · Post by **tonewoods** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 4:11 pm

"...perhaps $2k-3k for a working and beautiful RCA 44"

More like 1500-1700.00... ?
Although I agree they should be fetching 2-3K...

"Earlier this year he did an Electro Voice V2 and I had him add a Lundahl 2911 and convert it to balanced operation"

Could you elaborate on this?
So Clarence replaced the tranny?
How does the modded mic sound?

I've got a V2 sitting around here gathering dust, and might think about sending it in if it's a worthwhile thing to do...

hogfish · Post by **hogfish** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 8:22 am

Could you elaborate on this?
So Clarence replaced the tranny?
How does the modded mic sound?

The Mic was an Ebay purchase in February.Perfect cosmetically,But it was DOA and transformer was useless.I originally contacted Wes Dooley about restoring the Mic,and he gave me Clarence's #. Shipped it to him, and asked him about the transformer, and he recommended the 2911 as a replacement. He also added an Amphenol connector and mogami cable. Charged me about 265 dollars for the whole job. In a word the mic sounds Beautiful, dont think it has the output of an RCA, and its a little dark up top, but it really sounds great thru either of the Hamptones I have, and is equally nice going thru a Calrec 1161. A really nice room mic or in certain stuations for acoustic bass. Its kinda dark for a vocalist, but I suppose it could work for a crooney kinda singer.Its a great mic, the transformer really makes it come alive....

tonewoods · Post by **tonewoods** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 9:51 am

Thank you very much for that....

Blade · Post by **Blade** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:18 am

I spent about 8 hours yesterday stripping three layers of paint off of the mic and re-doing the paint work.

It's not perfect by an means, but I think it turned out pretty good.

At least it looks like it suppose to!!!!

Thanks again for all the advise.

-blade-

Before shot

After shot

Professor · Post by **Professor** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 11:06 am

Yeah, that's a pretty significant change in the looks. Very nice.

-J

tonewoods · Post by **tonewoods** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 1:14 pm

Gonna paint the meatball red?

JASIII · Post by **JASIII** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 1:22 pm

hogfish wrote:
Could you elaborate on this?
So Clarence replaced the tranny?
How does the modded mic sound?

The Mic was an Ebay purchase in February.Perfect cosmetically,But it was DOA and transformer was useless.I originally contacted Wes Dooley about restoring the Mic,and he gave me Clarence's #. Shipped it to him, and asked him about the transformer, and he recommended the 2911 as a replacement. He also added an Amphenol connector and mogami cable. Charged me about 265 dollars for the whole job. In a word the mic sounds Beautiful, dont think it has the output of an RCA, and its a little dark up top, but it really sounds great thru either of the Hamptones I have, and is equally nice going thru a Calrec 1161. A really nice room mic or in certain stuations for acoustic bass. Its kinda dark for a vocalist, but I suppose it could work for a crooney kinda singer.Its a great mic, the transformer really makes it come alive....

Yeah, that's awesome. I've got a V2 that needs similar work.

Blade · Post by **Blade** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 3:00 pm

tonewoods wrote:Gonna paint the meatball red?

I'm tempted to, but all but one of the pics I've seen of the black 44's don't have meatball painted red.

I'm guessing the pics that I've found on the internet would be accurate.

I'll probably just leave it black, unless it's suppose to be red.

If anyone has info on that, I would appreciate it!

Thanks
-blade-

ps..by the way, I talked with Clarence today on the phone and he quoted me a price on fixing my 74b Jr.......He's a real nice guy!

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