What happens when the stylus tip wears out on a $12,000 cartridge?

@mulveling 

The cantilever can be removed from ferrule. The ferrule and armature are held in place by the tension wire. You can also replace the entire assembly by loosening the screw holding the tension wire and pulling the whole thing out after removing the front pole piece. I think this is what the manufacturers do. I am not sure what adhesive is used on the proximal end of the cantilever but it does not have to be near as strong as the one that holds the stylus on. I do know what happens when they forget to apply the adhesive. I had a cartridge the stylus wound up pointing at 8 o'clock instead of 6 o'clock. The stress of tripping the end of record lift was enough to turn the cantilever in the ferrule. It was covered quickly under warranty. 

@pindac 

Atlas does exactly that. They have a $450 service fee which covers cleaning, stylus check and tune up. The problem is you lose your cartridge for 6 months.

@mulveling 

Excellent answer. I have a feeling that in some instances the owner is give a "new" cartridge at about 1/2 price. The old cartridge is sent back, stripped and rebuilt given a new serial number and sold as new. I have no problem with this recycling as all the important parts the wear are new. Elusive disc offers trade ins for new cartridges. Instead of getting the same cartridge back you get a different one. This is a bit more expensive costing about 75% instead of 50%.  Soundsmith is easily the most reasonable offering rebuilds for about 10%.