Shure and 78 Gurus-Help!

[Coffee Phil]

For years my main 78 cartridge has been a Shure M44 body with an N44-3 stylus. I have been happy with it. Long story involving grandchildren short, the cantilever is bent.

My first choice is to replace the N44-3 but it is no longer made. I am looking for a NOS replacement but no luck so far.

Needle Doctor offers an N78 S which is the stylus in Shure's current 78 cartridge. They think it will fit and if I give up the NOS N44-3 search I may buy it. I get the idea that there is not much love for the current Shure 78 cartridge on the forums so I'm a bit leery.

I also had a 3 mill stylus for my Sonus and liked it. It was a bit more mellow than the Shure, however the Shure seemed more detailed. I liked them both. Sadly it also died. The person who re-tipped it is working on it, but informs me that its chance of recovery is dicey.

That leaves my GE RPX for playing 78s, but nothing to play vertical cut records (Edisons).

If I can't find an N44-3, should I forget Shure and move to Stanton with the large choice of styli? I have been thinking of getting a Stanton before the sad event but I wanted the Shure to compare.

Phil

PS: I just noticed that Ed Saunders offers a replacement for the N44-3. It is about the same price as the N78 S from Needle Doctor. Any thoughts on this?

[Emref]

N44 3 from JICO
http://stylus.export-japan.com/product_ ... ts_id=1518

Alberto

[Coffee Phil]

Hi Alberto,

Thanks! I did not find that with my quick look at their site. Going back I found it.

I have heard nothing but good about JICO.

They don't publish specs which I can find but I suppose since they use the Shure part numbers the parts emulate the Shure counterparts.

Unless someone convinces me otherwise I'll go with Jico.

Phil

N44 3 from JICO
http://stylus.export-japan.com/product_ ... ts_id=1518

Alberto

[Bran Kulez]

I second the JICO recommendation. As far as specs go, I have bought about 7 or 8 styli from them over the past couple of years and they only emailed the specs after I purchased them. Kind of annoying but not that big of a deal.

[Coffee Phil]

Hi Branku62,

Thanks for the response! I get the idea that you are a Shure Guru so I was waiting for your confirmation on this stylus.

Is direct purchase from JICO the best way to go or do they have US distribution?

One more question. I notice that they make some fancy styli for the M44 body. Would one of those be a good choice for Lps or should I secure a V15III body first and get the stylus for it? I had a V15III in my Dual changer back in the day and thought highly of it.

Thanks,

Phil

I second the JICO recommendation. As far as specs go, I have bought about 7 or 8 styli from them over the past couple of years and they only emailed the specs after I purchased them. Kind of annoying but not that big of a deal.

[josephazannieri]

Yo Coffee Phil:

I got into the same situation with a bent cantilever on my N-44-3 after many years, and I can't blame it on a child. It was my own careless handling of the arm that did it.

I wound up replacing the stylus with a generic stylus from Garage-A-Records, that cost me $32.00. The pick was based strictly on cost.
http://www.garage-a-records.com/products.php?cat=84
I have been using it for about a year now, and it works fine and tracks well at 3 grams. I also use a VN4G 2 mil stylus on a V-15-IV on the Grace arm on the same turntable, but that's a 2 mil stylus. I pick the stylus that gives the best compromise between clear highs and low surface noise. But the Garage-A generic stylus works well and the price was right. One of these days I'll buy a Stanton 500 and a set of those Expert Stylus truncated elliptical retips with all the different size styli, but not now. $450.00 is over budget.

And good luck from that perpetually short old guy,

Joe Z.

[Bran Kulez]

Hi Phil,
Thanks for the compliment but I'm not quite a guru (yet). Maybe in my next life...
Anyway, I always buy direct from Jico and use their fast shipping service, I think it's EMS or something like that, only about 10 bucks.

There are a couple of good LP stylus choices for the M44 from Jico...the N44G has a .6 mil conical tip for $29.00 and the N55E which has a .3 x .7 mil elliptical tip for $33.00. Both will track as low as .75 grams. They also offer a N55E IMPROVED for $56.00 which has the same specs as the N55E, the only difference being the flip down stylus guard. Not worth the extra dough in IMO. I always take those things off anyway.

Joe Z.'s recommendation of Garage-A-Records is a good one. I've bought several styli from them in the past for my Shure V15 type 2 and 3 and am very happy with their products and service.

The Shure M44 is a lively cartridge whereas the V15 type 3 is more subtle. I use them both, among others, depending on what I'm listening to.

bk

[Coffee Phil]

[url][/url]Hi Joe and BK,

Thanks for the input. It is looking like I have several good choices. In addition to Jico and Garage-A-Records I just stumbled upon some offerings from Esoteric Sounds while looking for Rek-O-Kut stuff. http://www.esotericsound.com/CartStyli.htm

They offer elliptical styli for 78s under the Rek-O-Kut name for several cartridges including mine. They have sound samples of a standard 2.7 mill conical stylus vs. the elliptical stylus. The example which they gave had some annoying high frequency swishing with the conical stylus which was gone with the elliptical stylus. The highs were clearer. The improvement was huge. Now a good many of my 78s are in vastly better shape than the example which they gave, so I'm not sure I'll hear the difference on them. I'm nearly sold. Is all this for real?

About the sad event which started this: I am rearranging my audio and video equipment and during the process I put my turntable and spare cartridges (including the Shure) on the kitchen counter. I was alone but then my wife arrived with two of my granddaughters. I'm thinking that a book-bag went on top of my cartridge. There was no malicious intent or careless fiddling with the cartridges. My wife pointed out that I should not have left the cartridges where I did. She is right of course.

Phil

[Whitneyville]

I'm not sure I can see the Stanton 500 rig. They don't (I think) offer a 7 mil spherical like I can install on my old Astatic transcription head on "The Beast". My acoustic "pile" keeps growing. I bought 50-odd single sided 12" Victrola's for $2 at an estate sale. I found a VERY old and rare Chicago Music Inc. transcription of two of Scott Joplin's piano rolls (Gaiety Rags and Tremulous Rag) Copyright 1888 in a box of junk LP's I payed $1 for. It's a 90-100 RPM horizontal cut inside-out play counter-clockwise (Pathe style?) nearly 9mm thick red clay composition disk. Whomever was pumping the rolls, quite obviously (as was common) added their own "frills and lace" to the rolls and did it very well. CMI had a massive recording plant in Skokie, IL. for transcription of piano rolls by black pianists, many of whom would have been concert pianists (they had trained in Europe), but they were Black and had to eat. If they didn't play at the "sportin' houses" or (as NEVER shown in a Western) in a saloon or showboat, they either punched piano rolls or made transcriptions, mostly for CMI. Aeolian and 98% of all player pianos (like my Mother's Vose) took "Genuine Chicago Music Inc. Piano Rolls. Insist Upon The Best Superior Piano Rolls!" Her piano was "erected" for the Grand Colombian Exposition in Chicago 1892-1893.