Hi, Paul
Although this is a common assumption it is unfortunately not realistic. I have looked into it enough to know that it is MILES from economically feasible. Don't forget nobody EVER made elements specifically for harp players - the market is simply too small. Did you ever notice there are hundreds of pages of equipment for guitar players in the music catalogs, and only one or two lousy pages of stuff for harp players? There is a HUGE difference in the relative size of the markets.
More specifically, the production of such an element requires production of the crystal material in the first place. There's no rocket science to that - just google "rochelle salt" and "brush development corporation" for more info. But it DOES require laboratory equipment, temperature controlled ovens, vacuum pumps, and precise (meaning expensive) way of cutting the mother crystal into individual element-sized bits. Then the crystal has to be mounted in an enclosure with a diaphragm. You'll notice all the old crystals were mounted in cast housings with the casting's upper circumference machine-rolled over the diaphragm. Stamping, casting, machine crimping... more very very expensive machinery.
When these elements were made, the microphones they went into were manufactured in the hundreds of thousands to get the economies of scale required to justify the investment in tooling. That would still be true today. Even if every harp player in the world wanted two of them, soon - you might not even break even. And of course the demand would be far less than that.
Sorry. It ain't gonna happen - unless someone bought all of Astatic, Shure or Brush's manufacturing facilities and socked them away all these years....
/Greg
http://blowsmeaway.com http://facebook.com/blowsmeawayproductions http://bluestateband.net
From: Paul Routledge <paulandrewroutledge@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Date: February 11, 2012 7:00:56 AM PST To: Harp L L <Harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Crystal Microphone Element
Surely there must be someone out there would has the knowledge and ability to turn the making of ceramic and crystal elements into a small business. In much the same way that people are making harmonica combs. I'm sure it would be fairly successful as many people on the various forums seem to want crystal and ceramic elements.
Paul