The SM57 grill is not threaded on. It's got an internal spring clip that holds it in place. One good whack with a drumstick and it can go flying off leaving the diaphragm exposed. That's the main reason I stopped using SM57s on drums, I got tired of constantly repairing them.

Assuming changing the grill won't adversely affect the sound, (which I think is a big assumption) a beta57 grill would be a possibility, but for reasons I don't understand, the RK320 grill for a beta57 costs nearly 6 times the price of an SM58's RK143G replacement grill which would put it well above your target price.

I've got a beta 57 in storage, I'll dig it out and see if the screen will fit a 58.

Look, all you need to do is find some cheap Chinese long thin foam pop filters for your 57's if you don't like looking at them without their 58 metal ball? My God! You're only recording drums & guitar amplifiers. People don't need to be looking at your microphones up at the diaphragm. Try some spray paint? Of coarse microphones will get damaged and/or destroyed recording drums. This always happens. You won't like it when your microphones are more expensive than $100 US each. I love Mike and drums with Sennheiser MD 421's but those are nearly 3 times the price and recently, one of them got whacked and that was it. End of story. End of microphone. I used to love those guys that put 414's on toms or U 47 FETs on bass drums. Can you say ruptured diaphragms? It's okay. It's only a couple thousand dollars for a new microphone. That's peanuts when you're recording goes gold or platinum. So are you in business to make music or to make money? I like to make good recordings. And of course that requires a certain amount of equipment wear, tear and damage. Nothing lasts forever even when it's built like a tank.

RadioShack microphones cost less and are made by the same Taiwanese companies that make microphones for Crown and other quality microphone companies. It's what we call a crapshoot. Which is like the recording business itself. Taiwanese condenser microphones are Taiwanese condenser microphones whether you've paid for them at RadioShack or Guitar Shack. Plus it's a lot more fun when you're RadioShack microphones get destroyed on stage while videotaping the event! Much more fun. You'll be laughing for years to come. I still laugh about that RadioShack PZM that got crunched. The person who stepped upon it was totally distraught. I looked at them with a stern look and told them this was a very expensive microphone. To which they wondered what their liability would be? Yup, $29.95 when they first came out $39.95 when they finally discontinued them. All of capsules made by the same Taiwanese company that Crown was using. This came from exhaustive investigations on my part until I got the Crown application engineer on the phone. And of course my RadioShack units are modified for balanced output, higher output level, lower noise which only required a different output connector and different batteries. So if you know where your products are manufactured you can generally save yourself a lot of money. The RadioShack capsules are not each tested. You spend an additional $100 to have somebody test the same capsule just to make sure they are up to their established quality levels. If they're not, they don't care, they only spent $.98 for each. And so that's what it costs you at RadioShack for the same microphone element. Put it in your own metal or plastic holder and create a new brand name like "Shacky Elements". Presto! You're in business making quality microphones with quality gold colored splattering of something on Mylar.

So, what does everybody else here think? Our products better from Taiwan or mainland China? Don't see anything made in Hong Kong anymore? Hell, brands known for being made in Japan like Sony, Panasonic are no longer made there. No, they're made in China now. They're not dummies either. They know where the bottom line is and it's beneath them.

My bottom line is about 20 pounds too much
Mx. Remy Ann David

Why dont you simply put the 58 grill back on the 58 body and be done with it? I have read all those blurbs about the sound differences when using the 58's without the grill as opposed to having it on whilst recording snaredrum, and even trying it myself, several times, with a 58 and a PE50, I simply cant hear the difference. Its NOT going to be a 57 no matter what you hear people say about them being the same......they're slightly different......look at the burst chart!.....but NOT enough to make a difference on a snare.

This one is the catagory 'Urban Legend' 'Studio Myth'

The ONLY difference of any consequence is placement and hopefully you have enough headroom available to compensate or at least a drummer who doesnt have a problem with a slight change in drum angles and widths in his setup.

dvdhawk, post: 353090 wrote: I've got a beta 57 in storage, I'll dig it out and see if the screen will fit a 58.

As a follow-up, I finally got around to checking that out. Not surprisingly, a beta57 grill will fit a SM58 perfectly. Although, if it were purely for aesthetic reasons I can't imagine going to the expense. The beta grills seem unnecessarily expensive.

As you'll see at the http://www.parts-ex… Parts Supplier the economics of it aren't very practical - regardless of budget.

SM58 grill $10.56
beta57 grill $33.95
complete PG57 mic $40.23
SM57 replacement cartridge (complete with grill) $65.00

I don't know how that relates to £ pricing, but that should spell it out pretty definitively. You're better off dealing with the SM58s as they are, or selling off some SM58s to fund the purchase of a few SM57s.

Best of luck!