Upon closer examination, no stylus tip! WTF! The cantilever has been babied and never abused. It is not the least bit bent, but there is no damned diamond. Has anyone else just totally lost a tip?
I've had a couple of cartridges that this has happened to. |
I have a removable tone arm stalk so that I can easily change cartridges. Since I save me best M/C for records that are special sounding, I used the arm with the Yamaha M/C 9 that I had bought decades ago to use temporarily while I waited for my Supex "retip replacement". Normally, I just reset the tracking force, then the anti-skate, but this time the damned think kept sliding over the LP. Upon closer examination, no stylus tip! WTF! The cantilever has been babied and never abused. It is not the least bit bent, but there is no damned diamond. Has anyone else just totally lost a tip?
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Been there, done that. My incident helped convinced me to use TT's with removal headshells. FYI: I snapped the cantilever off a recent SS Ruby re-tip of a very special P-Mount cartridhe. It was a Technics EPS-310MC moving-coil cartridge.
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Perhaps there will be a premium charge for 'Audiophile Aids' when we get to the nursing home! |
In cueing up the record I snagged the sleeve of my robe on the cartridge cantilever and ruined it.
The robe for meditations zen are extremely dangerous. Better dressed as a mechanic where the sleeves have an elastic. |
Note;
Think oneself fortunate to live in Florida.!
T shirt and shorts near year round so fortunately no long sleeves to snag any stylus!
Or I am sure I would have also managed it by now with how many carts I have and how often I swap them around!
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Memo to self: roll up sleeves. |
Too bad all cartridge clips don’t break when the wire is completely outside of the arm tube. Way different animal when it’s already installed. |
Well. I have a soldering iron but no replacement clip, and I'm not sure I'm brave enough to work on the very fine wires in the Rega RB1000 tonearm, which are continuous all the way to the RCA plugs at the preamp. So I took the whole turntable to my usual dealer Stereo Unlimited (https://www.stereounlimitedsd.com), but they said they didn't have that clip and didn't seem super-enthusiastic about working on a piece they hadn't sold me—for which I certainly can't blame them. They recommended Classic Audio Repair (http://repairaudio.com).
The clips are fragile, but very easy to solder if you have any friend with good soldering skills. The are available separately online from Cardas for example, if anyone would like to replace all of them with a better quality clips there are many others (copper or silver). HERE is video tutorial how to do that for everyone. |
Luckily, you tend to make that mistake only once.
When you've setup as many turntables as I have in my life, unfortunately, it happens more than once. But, you tend to learn from each episode....well, maybe :-) |
If it makes you feel any better, I did the same thing with a dangling shirt sleeve to a rather expensive cartridge too, and I doubt you or I are part of any type of audiophile minority. Luckily, you tend to make that mistake only once. Great story too. I liked reading such a positive ending to a story that didn’t start off too well. Thanks, John!
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I loved this little tale. I work in such a shop and I am the guy with the soldering iron and the supply of clips. We live to serve!
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Chakster, I think you missed the point. Nothing new there....... 😎😎 |
John, great story. Chakster, I think you missed the point.
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And you could have simply swap the needle by yourself in a few seconds if it was an MM/MI cartridge without this long quest. |
Moral of the story - You can never judge a stereo shop by the pile of old receivers or the comfort of a bathrobe by its ability to snag expensive cartridges. |
Will you accept me as the forward writer for your upcoming book? |
