Who's done it besides me ?

I have broken a stylus or two, but my worst cartridge experience happened when I was pulling the wire clips off a Shinon Red Boron, and the back of the cartridge came off with part of the internal mechanism still attached. 

I have many different vintage cartridges, even expensive ones, and using them in rotation I have not worn any, these will still remain usable for children and grandchildren one day.
But if I really wear out any of them or damage them, I I would have them repaired or retipped as they are mostly MC cartridges.

So today I made the decision on my new cartridge its not a Talismann  though about moving up the Clearaudio line but I'm leery about the long cantilevers 
On the recommendation Joey54 and Nick at Audio Connection I order the AMG Teatro 

Enjoy the Music
Tom

I didn't break it off but I bent the cantilever (more like perverted the suspension) on a Hana EL. I negotiated some credit with the dealer and traded it in for a SL and paid the difference. Needn't have spent the money. A few months later I got an AudioTechnica AT33PTG/2 for $200 less and I enjoy it much more. I should sell some of my previous, lightly used cartridges.

I do not think there are hundreds of full time readers/posters left in these forums, certainly not thousands.
Never mind how many might have snapped off a cantilever.

Wow just a handful I thought it would be in the hundreds if not thousands or are people embarrassed to admit that they have done it too
I still have not made the decision on the cartridge 

enjoy the music  

tubehead120 I had no problem with the sound of my turntable really loved the sound of it my musical surroundings nova II is very flexible the problem I have is that I broke the @#$% cantilever off  and I'm most likely going to replace it with the same cartridge 

I have numerous vintage MMs, particularly Shure and Grado.  I also have a bunch of MCs (mostly Denon but also Ortofon and Dynavector) and a Grado Statement Reference.  They all sound good, in different ways, with the right stylus.  It depends on the music and you taste.  I will say that when I rip LPs with my PS Audio Phono Converter I use a wood body Denon DL-103R with ruby cantilever and Line Contact tip, with a Denon AU 320 stepup,even though I could set the Phono Converter's gain high enough to not need the transformer.

IMHO, the MCs also need a stepup and very careful loading.  I've never heard an MC head amp sound as good as I can get it with any decent stepup transformer and a loading box. 

For a 10x stepup it's easy to know what load you are getting.  For example your stock 47k MM phono pre will present 470 ohms load through a 10x stepup.  For other stepup values the transformer formula and a calculator are helpful. 

The art lies in shunt loading your preamp inputs to get the sound you want.  RCA Ts at the inputs are needed. You can solder resistors across RCA plugs (the ones for making cables) and plug them in the Ts, or make a switchbox (loading box) and plug that in.  Just start at a net load of about or a little less than 2x the cart's resistance and bump it up until you hear the sweet spot. 

For example, a Denon DL-103 (not the "R") is 40 ohms.  I start at about net 75 ohms at the cart.  To get this with a 10x stepup I need to have 7.5k at my phono pre input.  With the parallel resistance formula I calculate I need 8.92k ohms in parallel with my 47k preamp.  We will want 1% tolerance resistors (E96 value table) so the closest values are 8.87k and 9.09k; either will be fine to start the listening.  Then bump it up by 5 to 10 ohms...

If you aren't willing to do this, or have it done for you, you won't get the most out of your MC.

Yes, scales made with ferrous material that can be attracted to the magnets in a cartridge can be a problem.  The only time I came close to damaging a cartridge is when the balance type of scale I was using had a ferrous beam.  What is really crazy about this is that this was a Shure scale that is made to set tracking force on cartridges.  It obviously is only usable with MM-type cartridges which don't have permanent magnets, but, still this was a stupid design choice (an older Shure scale that I had utilized an aluminum beam).

I weighed mine on a scale that was not made for checking the cartridge weight. The scale pulled the cartridge down and bent the cantilever. Expensive mistake!!

Chakster to each his own. Only MM cartridges have removable styli. I know of no MM cartridge including the Ortofon 2M Black that can approach the performance of a modern MC cartridge, or a wood bodied Grado. I have owned all of them, Shure, Pickering, several Stantons, Empire, ADC, Goldring and I’m probably missing a few. Why?

I can recall some in random order ( i use some with 100k Ohm loading):

1) Grace LEVEL II (LC-OFC) BR/MR (Boron, Micro Ridge), orange plastic insert.

2) Grace F14 (LC-OFC) Beryllium / Line Contact, blue plastic insert.

3) Audio-Technica AT-ML180 OCC beryllium or Boron version, MicroLine stylus.

4) Glanz MFG-61 Boron cantilever, PH stylus tip.

5) Stanton SC-100 WOS, Sapphire coated cantilever, Stereohedron II tip.


I like MC cartridges too: Miyabi, Miyajima, FR-7fz just to name a few.

I have snapped off the cantilever on my Clearaudio Virtuouso, not once, but twice.  The second time was shortly after I had it retipped.  After that, it sat in it's box for a long time, I was afraid to use it out of fear of snapping it off again.  I hate the way the cantilever extends so far in front of the body.  I do have it mounted again and it sounds great, but I'm super paranoid when I use that turntable (which is not very often).  I had the first retip done by Soundsmith and the second by Andy Kim.  I didn't get to spend enough time with the Soundsmith retip to form an opinion.  Andy was a lot faster and easier to work with and more affordable.  He would be my first choice if I ever find myself needing that service again.  Nothing negative about Soundsmith, I just liked dealing with Andy better.

@mijostyn,
yeah, kind and true words. 
My Burmester 961 speakers with AMT tweeters are not easily to be called, - 'mellow'. They are very resolving and the all Mundorf caped x-overs make it however never ear-flossing like, thankfully.
Of course there is also my SME V tonearm and SME 10 tt, all Ag wired from cart pins through to phono-pre input.
Yet, the tonality of all me known and heard MCs e.g. Lyras, Peer Windfeld I owned, to Transfiguration Orpheus cartridge, to mention some I recall, ALL top MCs for my humble pocket, sounded different, less 'harmonic'. No fiddling, no loading variation, SUT or not, and even using different phono preamps, however always solid state ones. 
There we go. 
One, Lyra Dorian with a snapped of cantilever I'd also had repaired by Jan Allaerts, it was no good with a top Gyger stylus on boron cantiler, and not much improved at all after a further expensive rework. So much for 'top' re-tipping services.
Not to be repeated for me either. 
Just sharing, one may take from it what ever makes sense 😉
Michélle 

Justmetoo, look at the bright side. You are certainly saving a lot of money.
There are too many variables at play for me to be able to explain your experience. As an example, if your speakers are on the bright side many MC cartridges will sound edgy. The real expensive ones will not. I currently have an Ortofon Windfeld Ti and it's construction is meticulous. There are very few cartridges that can better it's sound and they are painfully expensive. As for cartridges at the bottom end of their line I can not say. The Windfeld is currently the least expensive cartridge I own. Of course, it is just as easy to break the cantilever off an expensive cartridge as a cheap one and even more tragic. The Talisman is actually the best value in the Clearaudio line and a very fine sounding cartridge once it is broken in. Clearaudio cartridges start out too bright. This goes away in 50 hours or so. 
Tomstruck, are you going to send it back to clear audio? If you are please tell us how much it cost to repair it!

@mijostyn, funny how experience are often not quite the same... 
Firstly, I did have more than one quality issue with e.g. Ortfon, such like skew cantilever, gaping cartridge body of two different and then top MCs of theirs. So much for that. 

Mostly reasonably good MMs tended to sound more musical, using SUT and straight MC into pre made not the hoped for improvement using MCs for me. 🤪 

Right now I'm using a P77 cart into MM input of Levison pre with 47k standard loading is more musical than e.g. my Cadenza Black with my Fidelity Research X1 medium, and there are some other vintage MMs at least challenging both my Cadenza and Quintet Black. 

With all the MCs I've owned I fiddled for ever with the loading all over the place from 50 through 47k ohm, when using MC 60dB input and NEVER heard that more musical liquid sound of my far older vintage MMs. 

In short, high, higher, highest resolution is NOT quite the answer if it creates a sound more like some middling CD sound. 

And so, as I said, experiences do differ, for better or for worse 😉
Michélle 

millercarbon went by the one you had listed the Koetsu black goldline  What is the reason that you painted the cartridge with total contact

Chakster to each his own. Only MM cartridges have removable styli. I know of no MM cartridge including the Ortofon 2M Black that can approach the performance of a modern MC cartridge, or a wood bodied Grado. I have owned all of them, Shure, Pickering, several Stantons, Empire, ADC, Goldring and I'm probably missing a few. Why? Better materials science with magnets and cantilevers. Better techniques of mounting styli and better styli. Much smaller armatures with less wire and lower resistance (much stronger magnets) leading to  much less moving mass. Much tighter tolerances. I used to see new cartridges with cantilevers and styli pointed in odd directions although all the Stantons I had were right on which is why I had several of them. All the modern cartridges I have gotten have been right on and these include Grado, Clearaudio, Koetsu, Lyra and Ortofon.  You can buy any of these cartridges knowing they will be aligned perfectly. The level of quality far exceeds that of anything I saw in the old days. I have no reason to look back. 

I was on the phone, long and very important conversation. I was walking around my racks in the listening room while i was on the phone, and decided to clean some dust on my custom made teak wood plinth. A very expensive High-End cartridge was locked on my EPA-100 tonearm but stylus guard was removed. Cleaning the dust under tonearm wand cost me nearly $4k that day. Cantilever was snapped out and i could not even find it anywhere on the floor :( 

Even with very special discount from the distributor exchange of my broken MC to a brand new MC was way too much for me. it was a cartridge with sealed body and manufacturer in Japan never refurbish them, exchange to a new one is what they offering to their customers via distributors only. 

I realized how far we can go to buy things and to pay nearly 60% of retail price again to get new one instead of the broken one officially. 

It was a challenge for me to start looking for vintage High-End.

Prior to that i tried several vintage cartridges, i quickly realized that refurbished cartridges with aftermarket (third party) parts is the worst solution even for vintage cartridges, so i definitely wouldn't even try with that new ultra high-end MC, original cantilever was very special (but sadly fell off). 

Reading audiogon i realized how many audiophiles are happy with rare cartridges (MM, MI or MC) from the golden age of analog. I decided to try some of them. When i bought some rare ones i was so happy, it was better and cheaper than my ex ultra high-end LOMC. For the price i could pay just for 1 new cartridge i bought many vintage MM (and i was so impressed). Then i bought some vintage MC and now i know for sure where i can find my personal audio nirvana without breaking the bank. 

Because of that accident with my ultra high-end cartridge i discovered the whole world of exceptional vintage MM and MC from the 70's/80's (i prefer to buy NOS samples). 

This is Stanton/Pickering typical aluminum cantilever with press-fit nude Stereohedron stylus tip. This excellent profile has been used by Stanton/Pickering ONLY on upper high quality models such as 881 and higher models up to 981 in Stanton line, and on XSV3000 and higher up to 7500 in Pickering line.

In the late 1940’s Mr. Stanton’s slide-in stylus made it possible for users to replace a needle assembly when it wore out, instead of having to send it back to the factory. Audiophiles snapped them up for home use, and the invention became one of the basics in phonograph cartridge design.

Pickering was first founded in 1946 by Mr.Norman Pickering, noted violinist, instrument designer, and medical equipment designer. His factory manager was none other than Walter Stanton, who later went out on his own. By 1960, Mr.Stanton bought out Mr.Pickering.

I've never damaged a cartridge that way.  Nothing gets close to the stylus, except for stylus cleaning tools.  I would never use a perimeter clamp/weight because of the inconvenience and risk of accidentally hitting the stylus.  

I don't have to worry about accidentally putting the needle down on a moving platter, or accidentally hitting the arm off of its rest because the arm is always cued up when not in play.  I cue up at the end of the record and only cue down when it comes time to play the record.  

I like cartridges with the stylus sticking out in front because they are much easier to clean and to align properly.  

Actually I still quite don't know HOW it really happened, but that very front, squeezed flat part of the alu cantilever, where the stylus is inserted, of my gorgeous sounding SURE V15 III MR... alu cantilever snapped or just fell off during simple foreward cleaning strokes of my stylus brush.
It broke off exactly by the fold/transition line from the tubular to the squeezed flat part. 
I do have a suspicion, that it might have been helped by corrosion of the aluminium, it looked darkish grey, not the usual more silverish colour. 
Has anyone ever experienced such a thing at all?
Michélle 

The Stanton has an aluminum baseball bat for a cantilever. Bend it enough and it will tear. Boron is very strong but brittle. Go far enough and they just snap. They stick the cantilever out there so that there are no reflections off the body. Lyra does the same thing. Like a wood turning lathe you have to be very deliberate when you approach it as you are always close to disaster. 
I did snap the cantilever off a Grado. But, it was an old worn out cartridge. I was playing around with it under a microscope. I'm not having it retipped. If I do another Grado it will be an Aeon. 
Old MM cartridges can not compete with a modern MC cartridge or a Grado. I have never used a Soundsmith cartridge so I can't say for sure but I suspect them also. 

I’ve always avoided cartridges where the cantilever sticks out the front like the Lyras and Clearaudios because I know what I’m like. My lesson came cheap from my first moving coil, a Goldring Eroica L of which I bent the cantilever fitting it to a Townshend Rock mk2/rega 300.

millercarbon doesn't look like a Stanton on your tonearm  LOL

Look closely, Grasshopper. You have eyes yet you do not see.
Technics SL1700, Stanton 681EEE. 
https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367#&gid=1&pid=11

I still have a Supex 900 Super body without cantilever that serves as a reminder of a "Momentary Lapse of Reason".
My condolences.

I'd had my Technics EPS-310MC re-tipped by SS.   After a few weeks on the job, I was cleaning the stylus and the cantilever snapped off where welded.  I was disappointed but after the re-tip I never really like it anyway.  The re-tip completely changed the way it sounded.  It was ok, it just didn't sound the same.  I dropped the remains in the trash.  If a cartridge worn I just replace it.

millercarbon doesn't look like a Stanton on your tonearm  LOL

Im very careful never had that happen.However once i had a needle just fall off.These things do happen but it is worth it to have records to play still much better than streaming. 

I would avoid boron. Whatever Stanton uses, you can straighten it back pretty good with needle nose pliers.

I bet you were "dumbstruck" when it happened!! Sorry, couldn't resist. That can happen to the best of us and it's our worst fear. And Thai is a very nice cartridge too!!   At least now you'll never do it again. Best of luck.