Cartridge mounting woes

Thanks for all of the responses. I appreciate your willingness to share your creativity and expertise.

I think the approach with set screws is worth a try, and I'm planning to start there; small investment, very little downside. From there, perhaps to try a cartridge that will mount more easily, per @mijostyn .

@elliottbnewcombjr Thanks for sharing the USAM post; the modification is a possibility (probably beyond my capability). The turntable ad your linked raises the awareness that perhaps a 698 turntable is worth less than I thought. Again, thanks to all.

I did not originally understand that the headshell has captured nuts. Now that I know that, I’d agree with Dover.  I was once confronted with a similar dilemma.

1. this has a solution, whatever they did

2. do people put 'better' tonearms on these? that would make it easy to get a standard removable headshell, have several cartridges, MC, MM, Mono ....

Unless you can get to the grub screws from below the cartridge they will not work.

There is one other solution. Roberts makes a product called "MAX GRIP carpet" Home Depot sells it. It is an extremely strong double sided tape. With the stylus guard in place place the cartridge on a piece of the tape then trim the tape to the cartridge with a carpet knife or sharp scissors. You will have to figure out the proper location and angle of the cartridge in the head shell before sticking the cartridge down permanently. DO NOT remove the backing tape until you are ready to attach the cartridge permanently. To get the cartridge off you will have to slip the edge of a sharp knife under the cartridge and gently pris it up. Do not try to pull it off with your fingers. 

Mounting another tonearm is worse than drilling out the head shell. Remember, anyone who wants to use this turntable with a modern cartridge will have the same problem. Drilling out the plastic is not a problem for someone who knows what they are doing. You have to use brad point drills at slow speeds so you do not melt the plastic. This should only be done in a drill press. 

Another solution would be to modify the end of the arm installing an SME socket so you can use any universal head shell. That is a bit more complicated, but it can be done. Anything can be done if you throw enough money at it. 

And the last and easiest solution is, a Grado Gold or Silver cartridge will fit right on, screws from below. 

Could you mount the new screw in a Dremel and turn the the head down against a file or grind wheel and turn down the shaft so no threads engage the Hana threads?

@ho249 

If the through holes in your cartridge are threaded then you cannot use it with the Empire head shell.

The reason is very simple - if you have the Empire shell with captured threaded nut that cannot be rotated and the cartridge is threaded it is not possible to get a tight fit unless you can rotate the cartridge - which you can't  because you need two screws.

You can only fit a cartridge with a non threaded through hole in that head shell - musical Surroundings should have known this - its basic mechanics 101.

@lexphin McMaster-Carr looks impressive.Set screws appear to be what I need. Thanks.

+1 Mcmaster Carr

Get Stainless Steel "set screws" (grub screwa)

May want to consider Stainless steel washers too

@mijostyn Thanks for the excellent suggestion. The 698 headshell is made of plastic and is very brittle (bought it in 1977!); I’d be really concerned about fabricating it as you describe. Also, the 698 in original condition is probably worth a fair sum if I were to sell it to a collector.

@lewm The 698 headshell has two captive nuts that receive the connecting screws. Your point is well taken, the nuts could twist during cartridge installation and break the headshell. Thanks for your observations and recommendation.

Given the potential value of the turntable to a collector in stock condition, maybe the best option is to carefully install a new tone arm and put the original aside.

"Grub screws", if that’s what you want to call them, might be made to work. I am thinking of threaded rods, essentially, with no head. You may be able to mate the cartridge to that headshell by using nuts from above, on the surface of the headshell, once you've screwed the rods into the threaded holes on the Hana. Problem is that when you tighten the nut, the threaded rod is going to have a tendency to spin in concert with the nut, so the headshell and cartridge never get tightly bonded. I recommend McMaster-Carr as a source of any exotic hardware, like M2.5 grub screws and M2.5 nuts. They’re amazingly fast responders and very reasonable in their cost structure.

@ho249 

The problem you face is that no modern cartridge is mounted that way any more. What you have to do if you want to use this turntable with modern cartridges is have the head shell drilled and surfaced for mounting from above. It is basic work for any machinist. I could do it in my woodworking shop.