The other night I really enjoyed listening to the blues band ‘Split Whiskers‘. Especially the harmonica player who had a great sound thanks to a little handheld mic called the ‘Harmonica Honker‘.
I have a mic called the Green Bullet but it’s heavy and cumbersome and gets in the way of playing. Looking around online there are so many options. Some looked simple enough to hack together and so I was inspired to create my own harmonica microphone.
So after a trip to Maplin, I spent the evening building one.
The parts I used were a Mono Jack, a random piece of plastic tube (after I realized a drinks bottle was not going to work easily), a 10 kohm (Log) Potentiometer, some black and red wire, the cap off a WD40 can (drilled with holes), the smaller cap off a bottle of pop, a rubberized knob and a Dynamique microphone capsule.
All these parts came to less than £9.50 but of course you need some basic tools and a soldering iron.
My soldering skills are certainly not what they used to be but after a couple of hours I had it sussed.
The mic not only works, but it sounds great. I’m looking forward to getting re-inspired and playing a little more. Next week I am meeting with Steve Lockwood whom I am sure will show me some new tips and techniques.
Should anyone else what to make a mic like this, here is the wiring diagram..
And here is what it sounds like..
I’m @Documentally on twitter
That looks great!
I made one myself a few years back, along with a pocket amp: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/02/custom-harmonica-mic.html
Came out nicely. I wish I knew where I put it since then. I’m pretty sure I threw the minty amp away. I should break out the harps and try learning again.
i’m glad I’m not the only harp player struggling with the green bullet…the bloodyminded part of me says persevere until one of us cracks, but this looks a cool alternative!
I’m buying these parts tomorrow. I’m having a nightmare with my Green Bullet feeding back constantly before it gets anywhere near breaking up. I’ll gamble £10 and some burnt fingers for an experiment.
Nice work Documentally… I was just trying to work out how to power a condenser and google bought me here.
Thank you for mentioning my little invention. I also enjoy Split Whiskers’ sound and I’m glad they put the Honker to good use. Let me know if you’re interested in flattening the tariff on it.