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hello

i've blown the ribbon of my T-Bone RB500 ribbon mic. I bought some
aluminium leaf. i could not figure out how to corrugate it. how is it
possible ? it breaks so easily !
i managed to place the uncorrugated ribbon, it's not sagging, and i
was glad to have some sound coming back. but it sounds quite boxy

http://motthieu.free.fr/rb500drumz.mp3

will i see a big improve but corrugating the ribbon ? do you have any
trick to do the job ? it's so fragile...

thanks

[Scott Dorsey]

wrote:

i've blown the ribbon of my T-Bone RB500 ribbon mic. I bought some
aluminium leaf. i could not figure out how to corrugate it. how is it
possible ? it breaks so easily !
i managed to place the uncorrugated ribbon, it's not sagging, and i
was glad to have some sound coming back. but it sounds quite boxy

The normal procedure is to run it between two gears. The thickness of
the ribbon also needs to be fairly carefully controlled.

Measure the thickness of the original, then get a Wrigley's gum wapper.
Take the foil, fold it in half, run it through a rolling mill. Halve it
again, run it through the mill. Do this about fifty times, then roll it
down to the correct thickness. Run it through a pair of gears with
about the right pitch, and you have a ribbon.

I don't know about other foils, but Wrigley's seems to use an alloy close
enough to Duralumin that it feels like the RCA material.

will i see a big improve but corrugating the ribbon ? do you have any
trick to do the job ? it's so fragile...

Yes, corrugating the ribbon changes it a lot.

Will T-Bone sell you a replacement?
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[[email protected]]

thanks

Wrigley have a billion products !
which one do you think will do the job ? (i don't like chewing gum)
http://www.wrigley.com/wrigley/produ...ucts_index.asp

the aluminium leaf i have seems a bit thinner than the default ribbon.
i've read T-Bone won't sell any ribbons. my mic isn't under warranty
anymore

[Adrian Tuddenham]

wrote:

hello

i've blown the ribbon of my T-Bone RB500 ribbon mic...
[...]
corrugating the ribbon ? do you have any
trick to do the job ? it's so fragile...

For coarse corrugations, gently press it onto the side of the teeth of a
hair comb.

For fine corrugations, wind some fine coil-winding wire, e.g. 36 to 48
SWG, (I don't know what that is in AWG) around a flat former such as a
piece of 0.5" x 0.125" brass bar. Press the ribbon onto that.


--
~ Adrian Tuddenham ~
(Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
www.poppyrecords.co.uk

[Scott Dorsey]

wrote:

Wrigley have a billion products !
which one do you think will do the job ? (i don't like chewing gum)
http://www.wrigley.com/wrigley/produ...ucts_index.asp

I like the Spearmint gum personally, but I bet they are all the same.

the aluminium leaf i have seems a bit thinner than the default ribbon.
i've read T-Bone won't sell any ribbons. my mic isn't under warranty
anymore

Possibly. Get a micrometer and measure the original ribbon. The ribbon
on an RCA 77DX will measure about a tenth of a mil... that is .0025 millimeter.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[[email protected]]

i have 4u (micron) foil available in small amounts if interested:
http://www.audiocdmasters.com/ribbon.htm

[[email protected]]

i have 4u (micron foil available in small amounts if interested:
http://www.audiocdmasters.com/ribbon.htm)