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Andy Kim - Needle Clinic

I wanted to put this post out there about Andy Kim of Needle Clinic, located in Bellevue, Washington. As many may know, Andy is a cartridge re-tipper. I tried to find some older posts to add my comments but couldn't find them. So I'll start another OP. I just got my Lyra Kleos back from Andy today. Here's my comments.

My Kleos sounded a little off lately, so I thought it should be checked out. I sent it to Andy Kim. It turns out all that was needed was the stylus required a cleaning and polishing. Andy reported back that the stylus only has about 10 percent wear; IOW plenty of life left.

So I remounted the Kleos today and have been playing all types of music: rock and roll, classical, and so forth. The Kleos sounds wonderful; just great. Kudos to Andy Kim.

Fyi -- some may ask why I didn't send it to Peter Ledermann at Sound-Smith. I seem to recall reading somewhere that he's been unusually busy lately -- and with good reason -- and turn around might be a bit delayed. Also, I'm not sure Peter uses replacement cantilever/stylus assemblies that match (or at least come close to) the original. Andy does.
Anyway, that is a bridge I don't have to cross today.

Bottom line: Andy turned my cartridge within a week of receipt and I am pleased.
bifwynne
pindac's avatar
pindac
2,864 posts
 

@lardawg I always feel the need to chi in.

I have used Cart' rebuild Services, and gave the utmost praise for the Skills of the Technicians at their helm.

My own and others I know who are using this method, has as a result, created genuine advocates of the practice.

To hear the Cart' had a unknown of fault and the assessment offered following Andy's work is one more story to encourage others to make a Contact with a Third Party Service. 

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lardawg
44 posts
 

I used Andy @Needle Clinic to repair a damaged my damaged Sumiko blue point special EVO3 with a broken cantilever. He answered my e-mails in less than 30 mins. and there were many (lol) & was very helpful in deciding my best path to repair. I went with a boron cantilever & hyper-elliptical stylus he also rebuilt my suspension which was damaged unbeknownst to me.. Andy’s turnaround time was 2 days from receipt of my cartridge to back in the mail to me. His quality of workmanship looks impeccable under my microscope & my EVO 3 sounds better than when it was new (and it sounded fantastic to me new). I would highly recommend Andy to anyone looking to retip their cartridge

shartphoto
1 posts
 

I sent my damaged Benz Scheu cartridge to Andy Kim@NeedleClinic. He rebuilt the damaged cantilever, repaired the bent/damaged suspension, and re-tipped the broken stylus. I just received the completely restored cartridge and am pleased to proclaim it has never sounded better! Thanks, Andy! 

pindac's avatar
pindac
2,864 posts
 

@shartphoto Another Wonderful Story of a concerning condition on a Cart', having and ending where a Cart' Owner is reunited with a valued Cart'.

There are stories on this forum where Cart's that have had a purchase Value of up to $10K have as a result of following similar steps ti yourself, has produced owners who can tell a similar story.

Most Importantly the story is ready to be told only a few days after parting with the Cart' 😎.

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