''Óriginal parts'', ''identity '' and ''retip'' conundrum

@nandric , having cantilevers made covers a fairly wide range of possible options. At the simplest, Namiki / Ogura will deliver an off-the-shelf catalog design cantilever of the kinds that are published in their documentation or websites. Altering the stylus angle to match the cartridge's cantilever rake angle so that the final SRA will be around 90º can also be specified (Namiki / Ogura's catalog specs assume a standard cantilever rake angle of 20º). Everyone who buys from Namiki / Ogura has access to this level of cantilever build.

But Namiki / Ogura also accommodate various degrees of customization.
Entry level of custom assemblies will involve the cartridge manufacturer delivering a bespoke, detailed design that may use original, non-catalog shapes and dimensions, but the materials will be standard Namiki / Ogura fare. Nonetheless, since the design work will have been done by the client (cartridge manufacturer, retipping company etc.), Namiki / Ogura do not have the right to provide such cantilevers to other parties unless there is express written permission by the designer or estate inheritor (in the case of designers who have passed away).

One such example is the Lyra-designed stylus that we have Ogura make for us. Although this stylus has non-proprietary aspects like 3um x 70um contact radii, we also designed in additional, less obvious features to help performance, therefore Ogura do not have the right to deliver the Lyra stylus to other clients. If Ogura wishes to do so, they can make their own 3um x 70um stylus and deliver it to their other clients (Robert Torlai in Italy claims to be using an Ogura-made 3um x 70um stylus), but not the Lyra design.

Second level of custom cantilevers is where the client specifies materials or methods outside of Namiki / Ogura standard choices, but are common or well-known enough that Namiki / Ogura are able to procure said materials / methods on their own, without requiring that these be provided by the client. This may include alloys, adhesives, suspension wires, coil formers, non-contact machining, heat treatments, cryogenics etc.
Nothing prevents Namiki / Ogura from using such materials or methods in the cantilevers of other clients, but generally speaking, unless the client's engineering drawings include clear requests for specific materials or methods, what will be used are the more standard choices.

Similar to the above, there may be places in the design where Namiki / Ogura would normally join one part to another with adhesives, however the client can alternatively specify crimps, press-fits, interference joints, welds, brazes etc. Again, the client's engineering drawings should include clear requests for specific joining methods, otherwise Namiki / Ogura's standard methods will be applied.

Third level of custom cantilevers is where Namiki / Ogura do not have direct access to the materials specified by the client, and depend on the client to provide the materials. One example would be Ceralloy, which was the very first cantilever material that we used in production. This was a whisker-reinforced alloy that we had formulated and made, and we delivered the ingots to Ogura so that they could shape the individual cantilevers and fit them to the rest of the parts. (As an aside, some of Highphonic's A-series cartridges used a related material. Their formulation was somewhat different from ours, but it was the same class of whisker-reinforced alloys.)
Likewise for the diamond-coated boron cantilevers of the Etna and Atlas; Diamond-coating of boron is outside of Ogura's capabilities, therefore Lyra delivers these to Ogura, who does the final shaping and assembly.

A similar situation applies to Lyra's chemically purified iron coil formers, MySonic's SH-μX coil formers, Satin's coreless spiral coils, and undoubtedly the micro-coils used in JVC's MC-L1 / L10 / L1000, with the client providing the materials (sometimes the completed part), which Namiki / Ogura build into the rest of the cantilever.

Fourth level of custom cantilevers is where the client specifies unique parts that Namiki / Ogura are unable to or cannot figure out how to make on their own. The one-piece diamond cantilever used in Sony's XL-88D (and derivatives) are an obvious example. In such cases, the client will provide know-how and advice, guide Namiki / Ogura to suitable fabrication equipment, and otherwise collaborate with Namiki / Ogura so that the parts can be made successfully.
Sometimes, even with the client's assistance, Namiki / Ogura aren't able to make the part exactly according to spec, or tolerances / yield may be beyond the client's wishes. In such cases, the client either has to give up on the part, or be willing to accept what Namiki / Ogura are able to deliver.

There are other categories, but those above are the major ones.

hope this helps, jonathan

PS. Regarding the joint-pipes which are the most common means by which replacement / alternative cantilevers are fitted, they are not present in all cartridge designs. For example, Takeda-san of Miyabi is one well-known designer who disliked the mechanical filtering effect of adhesive joints, therefore a number of his models (and the Fuugas) eschewed joint pipes in favor of seamless metal alloy cantilevers, even at the cost of higher effective mass. Similar thinking as on Sony's XL-88D, but expressed in a different way.

PPS. These days some online vendors selling used cartridges do not bother indicating if a cartridge is in original condition or has been retipped by someone else. We were recently returned a Lyra by way of WAM Engineering, in which we were taken to task for inadequate stylus alignment. The cartridge should have had an Ogura-made cantilever; it had a Namiki instead. The owner had purchased the cartridge second-hand, unaware that it was a retip.
And on our side, it was not a pleasant experience to be blamed for someone else's failings.

PPPS. @mijostyn , in addition to cantilever / stylus block alignment issues, it is also possible for the stylus' groove contact surfaces to be twisted or misaligned within the diamond block. In such cases concentrating on the alignment of the diamond block to the cantilever will not help very much.

@nandric
>The reality is that all styli and cantilevers are not produced by manufacturer but by, say, two Japanese Jewel companies.

This is more likely to be true for styli, less so for cantilevers and the other components that comprise the cantilever assembly. In my earlier post on this thread (dated 12-24-2021), I listed multiple examples of how components can be (and are) provided to Namiki / Ogura by cartridge manufacturers. Namiki / Ogura do not have the right to resell components or materials provided to them by a cartridge manufacturer (or designed by a cartridge manufacturer) unless there is a written agreement that allows this.

To add to the previous examples, when there was a shortage of boron a few years ago, some companies who depended completely on the two Japanese Jewel companies for supplies of boron were forced to cease production of certain products <https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/jico-sas-is-currently-out-of-production.500921/>. The two Japanese Jewel companies did not have boron production facilities, and were therefore incapable of replenishing their inventories unless they could first find alternative material suppliers (which took time).

However other companies, including Lyra, possessed their own inventory of boron, and were able to supply the two Japanese Jewel companies with cantilever materials so that production remained unaffected.

Although the angle at which the stylus is mounted to the cantilever does not depend on the cartridge manufacturer supplying key components to Namiki / Ogura, it should be tailored to the rake angle that the cantilever will assume relative to the LP, so that the dynamic SRA (with VTF applied, and playing an LP) becomes 90º.

For example, if the target cantilever rake angle is 20º, the stylus-to-cantilever angle should be 70º; a 21º cantilever rake angle requires a stylus-to-cantilever angle of 69º, a 22º cantilever rake angle requires a stylus-to-cantilever angle of 68º, a 23º cantilever rake angle requires a stylus-to-cantilever angle of 67º, etc. IOW, the stylus mounting angle plus the cantilever rake angle should always sum to 90º.

Although many cartridges have cantilever rake angles in the vicinity of 20º~25º, there are cartridges with cantilever rake angles of 28º (Ortofon) or 30º (Avid). Fitting a stylus mounted for use with a 20º cantilever rake angle in a cartridge designed for a 30º cantilever rake angle will cause a 10º SRA error.

This is why cartridge manufacturers typically specify customized stylus mounting angles to suit the body or cantilever rake angles of a given cartridge design.

That said, it is possible for a retipper to accomplish much the same thing - by either stocking a full range of cantilever angles (60º:30º, 61º:29º, 62º:28º, 63º:27º, 64º:26º, 65º:25º, 66º:24º, 67º:23º, 68º:22º, 69º:21º, 70º:20º, and this is ignoring vintage cartridge models which may have had cantilever rake angles of around 15º), or individually installing each stylus onto its cantilever once the recipient cartridge is in hand, so that the final, dynamic SRA becomes 90º.

Regarding rebuilds vs. retips, let me first state that different manufacturers (especially those whose native tongue is not English) may use the same words to mean different things. In fact, some companies may use the terms 'rebuild' and 'retip' interchangeably.

Personally, I consider 'retips' as meaning replacements of the stylus (and cantilever, if it is required), only. These are mostly performed by non-original retippers, since the original manufacturer is likely to prefer a full rebuild (reasons and explanations given below).

After a cartridge is played for hundreds or thousands of hours, more than just the stylus or cantilever are likely to become worn, bent or broken. Suspension wires are prone to take on a permanent set, dampers frequently lose resilience or harden, joint-pipes can bend or corrode, coil wires can short out or break open, signal output pins can become bent or twisted so that they spin freely, magnets can lose strength, screwhole threads can become stripped, polepieces can corrode or crack, anodizing and plating can come off cartridge bodies, and so on.

A rebuild is when the original manufacturer performs a 100% replacement of all components that are likely to see any wear or degradation. Rebuilds are what manufacturers prefer, since the cartridge will be returned to as-new, perfectly functioning condition. And since it takes longer to tear down a cartridge and send out all of the pieces for deep cleaning / rewinding / replating, often the manufacturer will replace the used cartridge with a brand-new one.

Rebuilds also give the manufacturer a chance to incorporate any improvements which may have been developed after the recipient cartridge was produced - for instance when Lyra made a revised 'i' spec Titan, any Titan that was returned to us for a rebuild was automatically upgraded to the 'i' spec (unless the owner specifically requested otherwise).
We are following the same policy today with the Lambda spec Atlas and Etna - any Atlas or Etna returned to us for a rebuild will be upgraded to the Lambda spec, unless the owner specifies against the conversion.

@pindac regarding 'equivalent parts', again I cannot speak for other manufacturers, but Lyra can perform 100% authentic rebuilds for any Lyra-branded cartridge that was made from around the year 2000 and later. No equivalent parts involved or needed.

For earlier models that used 'Ceralloy' cantilevers, although we originally bought kilograms of the metal, we either have exhausted our inventory or are very close to running out.
My opinion is that a manufacturer should acquire at least enough inventory of exotic non-standard materials or key components to support servicing for at least 10 years, preferably longer. The exception would be if the product was specifically offered as a limited-production run, where it was understood by both manufacturer and buyer that as supplies of key materials / components were depleted, production would cease. Such cases are quite rare.

hope this helps