This is not as easy as it sounds.

While prepping for a guitar session today, I noticed that my CAD Trion 7000 ribbon mic sounded “buzzy.” It’s a great mic for only $150 – but sending the mic to a repair shop for a new ribbon costs $146. Kind of like the cell phone of microphones. Opening up the mic revealed that the ribbon had stretched a bit (actually, there are 2 ribbons in this particular model) and was hitting the screen on either side, thus causing the buzz. I read a couple of “how to” articles, and decided to give it a go.

Although I was warned in advance that it is very easy to snap the ribbon, I went ahead and used tweezers to attempt to pull the ribbon taut. And the ribbon promptly ripped. I thought it was game over. However, there was just enough ribbon left over to be covered by the clamp that holds it in place. By using a Q-Tip soaked with isopropyl alcohol to temporarily hold the ribbon in place I was able to slightly tension both ribbons so that they floated in the center again, and didn’t bump into the screens on either side.

I over-tensioned the one that I ripped, and had to slightly re-do that one a bit looser.

I fired up the mic, and it sounded just like new – or possibly a bit better!

Here are some great pictures (not mine) that show what’s going on (again, not my mic – just pics I found showing the same problem):

This is not my mic - but I had the same saggy ribbon problem

1 of 2 ribbons tensioned

Both ribbons tensioned

Strymon Timeline -

I recently got rid of a bunch of pedals and vowed to go the complete software route. New and ever cooler pedals might make me modify that commitment.