Koetsu Urushi stylus shape

Following the advice of Raul, I finally sent my Urushi off to Expert Stylus. In my opinion, they were very professional from start to finish. They determined that the OEM cantilever and suspension were in fine shape and did not need work. They then replaced the OEM stylus (whatever it is) with a Paratrace (whatever that is). The whole transaction took not more than a month, including back and forth shipping, and they paid the return shipping cost. (I live on the East coast, USA.) I now have a few hours on it, and I feel very strongly that the cartridge is at least as good as or in fact better than it ever was. I agree with Mijostyn that one’s aural memory for detailed sonics is poor at best; suffice to say I am very happy with the re-tipped Urushi and have moved it up a few notches among my LOMC cartridges. In contrast, I sent two other lesser cartridges to SS on about the same date, and 8 weeks later I have no new info on those two, except they were received. Not that I lack faith in SS to do a great job eventually. (Those are vintage MI types; no factory repair or re-tip is available.)

Thermio, I feel for you, but my experience with Expert was very different from yours, obviously. I am curious, did Expert replace both cantilever and stylus on your Urushi? Because if they replaced only the stylus, it hardly seems credible that they could blame you for its being askew, if that was the case.  Did they imply you had removed and re-glued a stylus tip?  Not something most of us could even attempt at home.

Thanks to all.

I bought my Urushi in Tokyo.  I still have the dealer warranty card, and I am sure that I could submit it to Koetsu for rebuild under the auspices of the Tokyo dealer, which would probably be less expensive than going through the US distributor, who probably would not want to handle it anyway. for the foregoing reason.  However, I am not a patient man. The cantilever on my sample is fine and OEM, so all I need is a new stylus.

Dear Raul, In accordance with your earlier suggestion, I have contacted vdH about doing the re-tip.  Thus far, despite two further inquiries, I have had no response.  Which is why I am here asking this question.  I have no doubt that the Replicant would be fine.  However, I do have curiosity about what was there to begin with. By microscope examination, it does not look like a line contact type, although because it is worn, it is hard to be sure. I think I remember reading somewhere that it is a micro-ridge or in that family. I agree with you and Pindac, Koetsu takes pains to be mysterious.