Found an old Shure mic. Any historians out there?

[tbolding]

A friend found an old mic in some boxes of "junk" his grandfather had given him years ago. He knew I was interested in recording, so he gave it to me. It's a Shure Brothers model 520. Looks like something out of the "fifties", maybe earlier. I've never seen anything quite like it. It's round and about the size of a baseball, and it's threaded to screw on a mic stand (he found the mic stand, too). The metal label rivited to it states that it is a "Controled-Reluctance Microphone". It works, but I don't know what to use it for. Anyone know anything about this mic, and what its purpose was? Thanks ~~ tbolding

 

[bvaleria]

That's the "Green Bullet" - standard-issue Blues-harp mic.
Check out http://www.ggvideo.com/shu/520.htm

Bruce
Blue Bear Sound

 

[Tonewoods]

Real good for distorted vocals as well...

 

[bball jones]

and bingo halls . . .

 

[tanlith]

Gravy Booby!

... I think they're using one of those to announce train arrivals at the local station...

- Tanlith -

 

[bball jones]

might be the protoptype

 

[The Green Hornet]

Yo:

I think they used that mic to let people know that their Greyhound bus was about to leave the depot.

Green Hornet