SHAKER HARMONICA MICROPHONES Hand built in the U.S.A. And we think that's important. There are five things between your lips and their ears...                Your harp, microphone, cord, amp and air.                      Make sure one's a "Shaker!" * This is our company slogan, written in the office of the Rhythm Room in Phoenix, AZ. by our great friend, Mr. Junior Wells. BULLETIN     BULLETIN     BULLETIN Come visit us at the 2010 California World Guitar Show Saturday, January 16 & Sunday, January 17 at the OC Fair &Event Center in Costa Mesa We will be exhibiting for the first time our new: Custom painted Flaming Shaker Mics The Shaker Retro Rocket Recording Mic (The ultimate microphone built specifically for recording resonator type guitars.) The Shaker Harp Amp (a butt kickin' 23 Watt harp tone monster built to Shaker specs and design for us by the Krank Amplifier Co. of Tempe, AZ. All Shaker Microphones will be available for sale at special show prices.  We will also be exhibiting a very rare late 1800's guitar that we call "The Blood Guitar." This guitar was played by the U.S. army band member Ben Miller during World War 1. It has the history date by date and battle by battle  engraved on the back with all the band members names engraved on the side bouts.  It is truly a one of a kind, unique piece of American history.  Come and meet Shakey Joe in person. Blow Brother/Sister Blow Shaker Microphone now offers you the convenience of Paypal. Just go to the Product/Prices/Buy page, and click on the mic of choice. But please, feel free to e-mail or phone if you prefer.  "The Shaker Microphone Family" 2009 The Shaker family picture 2010 Please take a look at our   "New Products" page. We now offer a limited edition custom, hand painted/finished series of our microphones:    "Shaker Flaming Microphone" All of our harmonica microphones offer: dependability, flexibility, a radically different intelligent shape, great tone, extremely low feedback, reasonable prices and.. They're made in the U.S.A.!!! The Shaker line, with its extended frequency range, specially designed microphone bodies, killer tone, 11 detent steel case volume control on the Dynamic and Crystal models, smooth rotation volume control on the Madcat,Mad Dog & Retro Rocket models, gives todays harp player "TOMORROW'S LEGEND" in harp amplification. SHAKER harp mics are great NEW harp mics, American Made and built by harp players at a price people can afford. These mics are TECHNIQUE SENSITIVE, which means that your technique can affect the way the mic sounds. Because of the SHAKERS unique case, you can actually increase the static pressure on the element, which can alter its tone, giving you control over not just the harp, but the mic as well! SHAKER HISTORY The Shaker Microphone story is one of persistence, determination, success and a wee bit of luck. In retrospect, our story  is very much what people call the American dream.  But we believe, it's everyone's dream.  No matter where you're from or live.  We started with a lot of enthusiasm and a good idea.  But it was very much like playing in a band and knowing none of the songs.  The most commonly heard verses around the Shaker shipyard would be, "oh yea!    Oh, what the!  Oh brother!  Oh know!  Oh, shit!  Oh, okay! We never know when we take that first step into something new and unknown, where it will lead or how long the road will be.  This road we've ventured onto has brought both great happiness and some hard times. It all began in the winter of 1991 when Shakey Joe's bullet mic died.  We had 3 boys, and the money was needed in about 10 different places.  Being a crafty sort, Shakey actually decided to build one of his own designs.  Even though he loved the old bullet mics, he thought he could improve in some significant ways.  Being a draftsman, to the drawing table he went.  The idea was to build a microphone that would greatly reduce feedback, fit the human hand, be much lighter, have a wider frequency range, and it needed to bounce.  After 8 months of experimentation, building proto type, trial and error, Shakey Joe went to Ted Kowall's Music, in Chandler, Arizona, to take harmonica lessons from Steve, an advanced player who taught there.  Ted watched as Shakey played really loud in a small room with little feedback.  He came in and said, "How do you do that?"  Shakey showed him the design, and Ted said the famous words that started this whole thing.  He said, "I've been in this business a long time, that's an amazing rig.  If you built those, a lot of players would want one."  And that was the seed that grew into Shaker Microphone. That very night, Shakey Joe went home and asked his wife, "Do you think we should go for it?"  We had to agree we would be in this together to the end.  It was decided Shakey would design and build the mics, and do public relations/play in the bars.  Dawn would run the office; handle customer service, shipping and accounts/office queen.  And that's the way it is to this day.  To be honest, in the beginning, there were many times when she could be found running drill presses and soldering irons at two in the morning to meet deadlines. We started as a grass root, bootstrap, and sweat equity venture.  The back porch became a factory, the old refrigerator transformed into a spray booth, the bedroom became the shipping department, and one of the boy's bedrooms acquired a desk, file cabinet and phone.  It was on that phone that we got our first big time call.  The voice said, "Hi, I'd like to talk with someone about these Shakers."  My wife asked his name, it was Huey Lewis.  That was a pretty awesome thing and indicative of things to come. Let us explain something.  These were thin times.  We actually started Shaker Microphone with $137.00.  The first banker Shakey took his business plan to actually started laughing out loud.  Really uncool!  The first investor we got hooked up with turned on us like a rabid dog.  That was really uncool!   But, with the help and support of many wonderful people, who loved the blues and wanted to promote music, Shaker came into being.  As an example, Mr. Bob Corritore who owned The Rhythm Room in Phoenix, Arizona.  He was gracious enough to tell the doorman if the Shaker guy comes to show his harp mics, just let him in free.  He knew we were strapped for cash.  Because of this kindness,  Shaker mics were shown to William Clarke, James Cotton, Charlie Musselwhite, and so many more.  This was pretty much our entire public relations campaign and advertising strategy.  Shakey Joe, showing up at the Rhythm Room early, introducing himself and saying, "Hi.  I'm Joe.  I've invented a new type of harmonica microphone.  Would you like to try it out?" The first player he approached in a club was the great Mr. James Harman.  Shakey says, "I was so scared; it was actually hard to make my feet move, to walk up to him."  James said, "Cool man.  Let me see it."  So, Shakey  handed him the Dynamic Shaker and left him with it, not really knowing how this was supposed to work.  He thought, maybe, at the end of the night, if he was lucky, James would try it and give his opinion or something.  Shakey was more than lucky.  During the second set, James plugged it in and did 3 songs with it.   Those were three L-O-N-G songs.  After the show, James was so kind.  We think he could see how green Shakey was and said, "I think you've got something there.  Keep on keeping on man."  If he had said something ugly-like, there may never have been a Shaker Microphone Co. But, Pope Harman the First had given it his blessing. We're going to tell you one more story.  How Shakey met the man, Mr. Junior Wells.  Because of him, we have our slogan.  So, we think you might want to hear it.  Shakey was at the Rhythm Room doing his public relations thing.  Bob introduced them in his office.  "There I sat, with one of my idols, and he was so gracious, so kind.  He told stories and laughed just like regular folk  and, I'm going to confess, I drank my first taste of Tanqueray.  Oh yea!  With Junior Wells!  I sat there thinking how I, a house painter, landscaper, instrument repairman, harp dude could be here with a blues legend.  I mean I could remember as an 11 year old kid riding in my uncles 59 black Impala convertible, listening to music pumping out from the radio, sipping on an RC cola.  I asked my uncle Ted, "Who's playing and what kind of music is that?"  He said, "That's Junior Wells and that's the blues."  That was the day I changed from trombone to harp."  Enough history.  Back to the story.  So Junior says, "Come on, let's see how it sounds."  We went up front, got the sound man to hook it up.  Junior blew a few riffs, laid our mic on the monitor, smiled, and said, "Sounds good.  We'll see how it goes Shaker man."  And so he did.  And we have a picture on the last page of our website that he sent us, holding his Crystal Shaker, which he endorsed.  And later that night, Junior slipped a piece of paper in Shakey's shirt pocket, smiled, and said, "I wrote a slogan for your new company.  Don't look at it until you get home."  It said, "There are five things between your lips and their ears...your harp, microphone, cord, amp and air.  Make sure one's a Shaker!"  It's still our slogan.  Thank you Junior!  As we've walked this road, we've met so many talented players and great people - each one has become a link in our chain.  Everybody is a link in some chain, somewhere.  One very special link in ours was when Mr. Chamber Huang introduced Shakey Joe to a wonderful harp player, Peter "Madcat" Ruth.  They became collaborators as they birthed the Shaker Madcat microphone.  Its design is based on Madcats very technique oriented and animated style of playing.  The idea was to build a mic that would allow a harp player to use his hands freely for effect, but be amplified.  We did it and we did it good.  If you ever get a chance to see Madcat play, do it.  His music - and the man - is amazing.  Thank you Madcat! So, do we have a big factory and laboratory where we develop our products?  Well, we have a factory where we hand build each unit and, by the way, we use as many American made parts as possible.  Our microphone bodies are injection molded by Bob, who owns Southwest Injection Mold in Springfield, Mo.  Our metal bodies are cast in Harrison, Arkansas, by Mike Marley's company.  Our Retro Rocket's pewter grills are cast by Dennis, who owns Louisianna Casting.  Our knobs are made by Joe Waszak in Payson, Arizona.  Our cables come from Horizon Cable, out of Missouri.  And our labor is done by Shakey Joe, sons, and grandsons.  So, when we say American made, that's what we mean.  It's not just a sales gimmick. As far as research and development, we do that to this day thru venues such as clubs, bars, and festivals.  All is fair game.  We receive input from players all over the world, listen to what they say, and respond.  That's the thing when you aren't too big.  You can adapt and respond quickly.  And that is what we are constantly striving to do.  We keep on perfecting.  The art form evolves, so too the player.  We refer to this as influence induced evolution. So, let us all here at Shaker Microphone tell our harmonica loving friends out there, all over the world, thank you!  Why? Because each and every one of you are part and parcel of keeping the music alive.  It is stories taken from life and played by the people who have lived it...Once Shakey asked James Harman, "What is a blues song?"  He said, "I don't know about somebody else's, but I'm tellin' a story, man, and it's true."  Playing harmonica is the way some of us choose to convey our emotions, hopes,  disappointments and dreams to the next generation.  And we do it with 10 holes, some wood, brass and breath.   Shakey Joe considers himself an okay harp player, but a darn good microphone designer.  A harp player's microphone is a link in the chain between the player's lips and the hearers ear.   We thank you for choosing Shaker microphones for your link. Contact Us! You may order any of our products at:(480)987-8456; or email to shakermicrophone@shakermicrophone.net; or write to: P.O. Box 573 Queen Creek, AZ 85142.