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Stylus just falls off?

A couple of years ago, I had a Van den Hul Grasshopper serviced and upgraded at the factory. A few days ago, I had it mounted by a well-respected local tech. I went to his shop today and listened to the cartridge. Then we disassembled the turntable for transport back to my home.

After the tonearm was removed from the turntable and placed on a shelf, I noticed that the stylus was missing from the cartridge. It is clear that no one and nothing touched the cartridge as it was moved. It seems that the stylus just fell out.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? (My understanding is that the stylus on these cartridges is easily removed and replaced, so perhaps it was not properly affixed to the cantilever.)
jimjoyce25

Showing 3 responses by jimjoyce25

jimjoyce25 OP
215 posts
 
Thanks everyone. The cartridge had never been used until mounted a few days ago, and had been played for some number of hours by the tech to determine the best set-up. He is exceptionally careful, and I watched him move the tonearm, and there was no contact with the cartridge whatsoever. Assuming it is just the stylus, hopefully VdH will just repair it under warranty, but in any event it should be an inexpensive fix at worst.
jimjoyce25 OP
215 posts
 
Rudolffzigray: I have a Basis turntable. The tonearm mounts to a very heavy and solid insert that sits in the chassis of the table. I have transported it many times this way without incident. In any event, the stylus was found to be missing at the tech's shop, after we had disassembled the table (removed the belt, the platter, and the tonearm + base) and moved the pieces to the front of his shop for loading into my car. I noticed the tip was missing, he confirmed this, and we were both struck by how bizarre this was, since I had watched the entire process, and nothing had touched the tonearm (he handled it by the base).

I share your sense of disbelief, since that was my initial reaction as well. But it happened.

The VdH cartridges are relatively easy and inexpensive to re-tip, and I believe this is because the stylus is part of a "sleeve" that slides over and attaches to the cantilever. It makes sense that if the adhesive was not properly applied, or otherwise failed, the sleeve could fall off. And this did occur after only the relatively brief number of plays needed to mount and test the cartridge. If in fact there was an adhesive failure, it would be more surprising if this had occurred after several hundred hours.
jimjoyce25 OP
215 posts
 
You sound like your own story is clouding your judgment here.

The tonearm was removed from the turntable base just to make it easier to carry the turntable to my car. The tonearm assembly would have been placed in the turntable base for the ride home.

However, somewhere between the back room and front room of his shop, the stylus fell off.

Things happen. I've lost styluses to housekeepers, movers and my dogs. Get over it.
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