Rebuilt Neumann U87 Swivel Mount with new inner XLR jack, new cable, new genuine Neutrik connector and 17’ cable

I sought out to offer premium, rebuilt swivel mounts after a run of buying a bunch of horribly decayed mounts. It seems most of these are just shot. There’s a number of things that go bad with these. Each mount I sell has about 6-8 hours of labor put into them, in addition to many new parts. *These are offered with either 17’ coils or a 16” pigtail.

Firstly, 90% of the old internal switchcraft jacks that Neumann used have reached end of life. The plastic of the Jack has dryrotted and deformed inside of the mount (see pics for side by side example). Not only can this mess up your precious microphone, but it leaves a huge risk for poor connection when you need it the most, in the middle of a take. So I have replaced it with a brand new inner XLR female jack which I cannibalized from a brand new one and modified to flawlessly fit permanently. The locking mechanism has to be carefully Dremmeled off and modified in order to make this work, and it is actually quite delicate and precise. To make one perfect one I have to go through a few of these and have to start from scratch when I was first developed this technique until perfect.

What’s funny is that Neumann did the exact same thing: When I looked closely at the Switchcraft jack I was replacing, I noticed that Neumann had also hand cut the switch craft jack down in the same way! They exclusively used Switchcraft because the Swivel mount housing is machined and threaded with a very specific sized set screw so I retooled the housing for the new modern jacks to fit perfectly. I then replaced the cable with a modern shielded, high-quality microphone cable and soldered on a genuine Neutrik XLR-M jack on the end.

I also painstakingly clean every inch and reform the threading barrel, which invariably gets all bent out of shape over time, risking stripping your U87 like one did to me a few years back. My mounts also have OEM cable springs that aren’t stretched out like most I see for sale.

The metal cable clasp issue:

Lastly, almost ALL of these I buy have one VERY serious problem: There’s a tiny little metal clasp with two super small set screws inside of this thing that hold the cable down so if you pull on it, it doesn’t tear on the three leads inside and cause a cold solder failure or full break. Almost every single one of these I buy is missing that tiny little metal anchor, having had the cable repaired or replaced over and over throughout its life. I end up hand fabricating one of these clasps, bending and shaping it into the correct shape. I then drill tiny holes and source my own screws so if you ever yank on the cable or trip over it when it’s on a stand, you’re not gonna rip the leads out of the back of the XLR jack, which has also happened to so many people.

All that to say, my swivel mounts are a few bucks more than everyone else but at $100 an hour for bench time, this is a steal of a deal for the amount of work I’ve put in to them and only about 250 more than a beat up one. Thanks and have a great day.

NOTE : I sell these with either a 16” pigtail or 17’ coil. This one is the 17’ coiled cable unless otherwise specified. Thx