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FR64S tonearm overhaul

I just bought a nice Fidelity Research FR64S tonearm off Ebay to have a second vintage arm for my SPUs and maybe a few FR cartridges in the future. The arm is in great condition but still has the original copper wiring.

I am looking to refurbish the arm myself and was thinking about rewiring it with Ikeda silver and a new Cardas DIN plug. Does anyone have experience with the sonics of silver vs. copper wiring in the FR arms? What other things should be replaced and where can I source the parts?
latinsamba1

Showing 4 responses by nandric

nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 
To get some idea about the complexity of the job look at: www.thomas-schick.com-FR 64
BTW there are those who prefer silver wire but also those who prefer copper wire. If you prefer silver wire then sell your FR-64 and buy one with silver wire inside. I own both and have no preference for one or the other. Anyway don't mess with an good FR-64 specimen.
nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 
The silver kind are marked as such on the box and on
the armwand near the headshell (with a sticker). Some
'purist' removed this sticker because to them the arm
looks better without. But those can probably be only sold
as copper kind (grin).
Dkarmeli, the silver kind are more expensive.
nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 
Dear Lew, The only sense I can discover in your proposal
is that this way one can check if the wire is copper or
silver. Assuming of course that the silver marking is lost.
Why should whomever remove the 5 Din connector?
The only reason I can think of is the conviction that one
can make somethig better instead. If so one should produce
those an get rich.
nandric's avatar
nandric
4,086 posts
 

One need to first remove the round covering plate on the VTF

adjuster to get access to the inside of the arm. Then the aluminum

scale on the arm shaft need to be removed in order to get access

to the 3 screws one of which holds the Din 5 connector. Ikeda used

some kind of ''weak glue'' for both but the aluminum scale is more

easy to remove than the mentioned covering plate. Scratches on

the covering plate are easylly made while those reduce the value

of the arm. This work should be done by an expert like ''our''

Dertonarm . Alas he was ''priceless'' before in metaphorical sense

but will be at present  in literal sense (grin).

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