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Originally Posted by Glenn Kuras  I just went through all of mine and they seem all the same, but one of them has a extra key hole in it (like above). I think it is old as dirt, so not sure if it is fake or not. I could try them out but because one is so old I am sure it sounds a little different. I will keep a eye on that one. Might just turn out to be me ached Chinese secret!!! 
Glenn |
My real SM58 (like 20 years old at least) has the keyhole. My SM57s (from the info given; qualify as real) do not. Could be age for the keyhole thing. These mics have been in production for what, 40 years, factory changes, are known to have happened, tooling and slight design changes are likely, at the very least, as a consequence of the aforementioned.
I'm inclinded to believe in the fakes due to the price and font difference (companies don't F**k with their branding like that); don't think the keyhole is a good indicator tho - anyone got a really old 57 (ahem, tINY)?
Good job on that site, jdjonsson; internal wire color conventions (all mine have green, marked positive and yellow) and especially capsule DCR are much more objective and reliable things to check than external cosmetic features.... the wad of cellophane (vs epoxy-potted tranny) is a dead givaway too.