Serviced Fen-Tone vintage Microphone 1950’s with new XLR pigtail!

The ultimate collectible rare bird for the mic guru who has it all. Works like new! Sounds phenomenal. Use wherever you’d use an sm57/58 but with a way cooler vintage classy look! No returns please. New pigtail, new Nuetrik style connector, new high quality dynamic cardiod sm57 style moving coil dynamic element, new wiring (with high quality Kester leaded solder), Mother’s Brand chrome polish applied, new mic stand adapter (Shure brand, with brass threading, modified) and refurbished original box, which includes the original $4.95 price tag stamp From the 1940’s-1950’s!

The crystal element is long since dried up and dead (as they all are many decades ago) so we professionally replaced it with a high end dynamic element. Probably the only one for sale in the world right now and certainly the only refurbished working one! Sounds great and looks new for it age.

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Original specs (procured from AI):

Fen-Tone Symphony Crystal Microphone — 1950s lo-fi character with unmistakable mid-century bite

The Fen-Tone Symphony is a genuine 1950s crystal microphone, produced for the booming post-war home, broadcast, and PA markets. Built around a high-impedance crystal element, it delivers the unmistakable sound of early amplified speech and music: forward mids, rolled-off lows, and a gritty, nasal edge that modern microphones simply don’t replicate.

Originally marketed for public address, amateur broadcasting, schools, churches, and home recording, the Symphony was designed to be loud, intelligible, and direct—cutting through noisy rooms long before hi-fi fidelity was the goal.

Today, that same limitation is exactly why engineers and producers seek these out.

Purpose / original application:

Designed for speech reinforcement and early amplified performance, including:

• Public address systems
• Radio / amateur broadcast
• Educational and institutional use
• Home wire-recorders and early tape machines

Fen-Tone was a New York–based importer/brand, and units like this were manufactured in Japan during the rapid expansion of Japanese electronics production in the 1950s.

When it was released:

Early–mid 1950s, during the peak crystal-mic era just before dynamics fully took over PA and broadcast applications.

Polar pattern: Omnidirectional (now cardiod)

(Typical of crystal elements of the period; pickup is broad and proximity-dependent rather than pattern-controlled.)

Frequency response:

Not formally published in modern spec terms, but typical working range is approximately:

~200 Hz – 6 kHz

This narrow band is a defining feature, not a flaw—it emphasizes intelligibility and midrange grit while rejecting deep lows and airy highs.

Where it shines in a modern studio:

• Lo-fi / character vocals (garage rock, punk, blues, indie, hip-hop texture layers)
• Harmonica (classic Chicago-style bite)
• Re-amping vocals or instruments for grit and saturation
• Sound design when you want unmistakable “old radio / PA” tone
• Spoken word with vintage authority
  

Expect high output, high impedance, and a sound that breaks up beautifully when driven. This is not a clean mic — it is a tone generator.

Why people want it:

You don’t buy a Fen-Tone Symphony for accuracy.

You buy it because nothing modern sounds like this without heavy processing, and even then, it’s never quite the same.

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