I thought some of you might enjoy a little change of pace this summer.
The Wired magazine online portal has a nice article demonstrating how a crude microphone can be constructed from a face mask. The article also provides some details about how microphones work.
When I was a kid, I was needing a pickup for an acoustic guitar.
All I had at hand was an old pair of headphones.
I put a 1/4" jack on one end of the cord and plugged it into my amp.
I clamped the headphones around the guitar and it really worked good!
Necessity is the mother of invention!
Erv