They laughed until the DIY retips started to play

[bakelite2]

Well it looks like my Excel cartridge needs to be looked at by a professional reparer as the armature needs to be re-centred so I will not be atempting the thorn graft at this stage. I will now move on to an AT cart which has the cantilever snapped off and I have the perfect replacement

[robaroni]

I have an ADCOM XC/LT from the mid 80's that my, then young nephew broke the cantilever off of. It was a highly rated cartridge back then so I contacted Soundsmith to have it repaired.
I'm not sure I'll go that route but I want to see if there's an alternative path. ($250.00 is a big chunk of money). I'm a watchmaker so I'm used to working with minute stuff.
Does anyone know if SS replaces the whole works or just 'pins' an new cantilever to your existing stub?
I might try it myself but the big question is what cantilever can I use and where can I get one?

Rob

[flavio81]

http://www.hifi-forum.de/viewthread-26-7620-1.html

Sehr gut! Very nice thread!! Gave me many ideas. Thanks rorenoren!!

I have modified an AT11 (low compliance cartridge with a 0.7mil conical). The stock conical has a tubey cantilever with a needle that has a BIG blob of glue on top (bad thing -- increases moving mass)

I removed the cantilever and sticked in a new cantilever, from a p-mount Audio Technica, a narrower cantilever that has a very tiny 0.6mil conical stylus, that definitely looks like a lower mass assembly. I glued the cantilever to the cartridge using a drop of cyanoacrilate glue. THE potential PROBLEM is that the glue tends to slide down to the cartridge suspension, hardening the rubber. So you have to be careful.

The end result? Good sound and excellent tracking!!

[AK]

The modified Dual 1009 tonearm looks insane

[xsb7244]

Hi Paladin. Wow and more wow. I am impressed with your DIY retips. This
is the first time I am reading this thread. Since 7 NOV 2009 have you learned more about your DIY retips? This is so interesting. Please
tell us in the last two years what has been going on with your DIY retips?
Can you retip a Shure M97xE to sound better than the original? I like to
know more about your retips.

[Paladin]

An old thread still has life. I hope it got your creative juices going. All 2 year old cactus-ized cartridges continue to play. Sumo II is strutting next to me now.

Learning more? Always, but not with cactus grafts. But having more fun? Yes!

I did cactus-ize a Shure M97HE cartridge. It is not exactly the M97xE but close. The tip-holder with fancy carbon-fiber brush was lonely without a tip so an Audio Technica AT140LC tip was grafted. Combined, it takes the characteristics of both. It is not CD sound. It is very sterile but not like a hospital. It has more of a moving-coil cartridge midrange which I like because it is something we hear every day. It is multilayered or has depth. And in my opinion I get a bit more separation but that might just be me. It is not screechy in treble, and the well-known old style Shure bass comes through. No slop in sound; I think it has exceptional “piano” quality.

I would not recommend the micro-surgery for everyone but if you have the determination, and a cactus, then what have you to lose? This is not knitting needle sized but I have done a couple so it cannot be too hard. Cacti are hardy plants and their needles equally tough. They do not mind if you take some of their, yes, leaves. The leaves are flexible and durable; the properties make them ideal for tip internal grafts. And they are common and cheaply found. I still prefer to secure the bond with white glue with an acrylic sealer overcoat because if I foul up then the surgery can easily be taken apart with an easy to get solution of ammonia and water. Our gain would be to own something unique. It is not a one-way street; we can recycle cartridges inexpensively. This method can keep a lot of cartridges going for a very long time.

Your neighbors would either be envious or think you are crazy. It is surely more convenient to slap in a CD and hit play but what is the fun in that?

Recently, DavyW has graciously spread the concept to others.
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showth ... p?t=404018

[1200y3]

I'm using cactus needles to improve ceramic cartridges as well, by being able to use a fine stylus and dcecent compliance. But I have not been able to figure out how to improve a GE VR 1.

It is nice to never have to worry about styli replacements again, and overcoming the paranoia of using a homemade styli is the biggest obstacle. It almost makes breaking a V15VMR worth looking forward to, in fact a swear a cactus cantilever sounds better the berrylium anyhow. (It was the search for a V15 MR sound that made me go this route.) After all Grado is still more transparent Shure and Grado never went to the extremes Shure did on their same cost cartridge. But an interesting development is that I now have no use for fine lines.

I used to laugh when I was told to fix my needles with cacti, but 25 years ago who had to worry about styli cost?

Keep our vinyl world breathing, because with new digital audio IPODS, I don't know of any youngsters interested in CD (soon to be obsolete?).

[Blue Angel]

Hi 1200y3

So how to you attach styli to cacti cantilevers? Or do you play with cacti as styli?

ba

[1200y3]

It has to be kept in mind that most of my "experiments" deal with generic styli,which have quite large cantilever tubes. I cut the stylus tip about 1/8" from the end (diamond end) and slip it over a needle that fits.

I repaired a stylus one time with an A/T Technicraft TC 4000, which is a beautiful nude shank line contact from the late 80s. I had nothing to lose except for this tip which was so tiny the job was nearly impossible. I used a fresh drop of Krazy Glue on the OUTSIDE of the 1/32" length of cantilever that was available, and it worked, and is still alive today. That is, the cactus needle was attached to the outside cercumference of the cantilever tube, as the fine stylus cantilever was very soft and squashed so I could not get it to slide over a cactus needle. I rarely use it and I have no idea how permanent this will be. But when I decide to use it full time, I will find a low viscosity or consistency enamel cement to give an "extra drop" of bond strength.

You can see that I have such small involvement with this particular thred due to the reason that it is quite different repairing the high quality styli vs generics. But a link above reminded me that DIY AUDIO forum and a couple others have some incredible DIY turntable talk, and little about DIY styli.

[Audioplus93]

Just started researching DIT re-tipping. These comments are of great interest. Particularly in respect to MMC style B&O stylus. MMC5 - MMC1 any ideas on how to upgrade a worn MMC5 to a MMC3 or MMC1? Even an exact match would be of great interest.
Thanks for the insight!

[Audioplus93]

I did intend to state DIY re-tipping . . .

[Blue Angel]

I have just completed repairs to two B&O cartridges. One for a friend @gratis and the other for a customer. In both repairs, I used Gyger FG11 cantilever/styli assemblies. I must say I was a bit apprehensive about these jobs but it all worked out OK.

ba

[Blue Angel]

It has to be kept in mind that most of my "experiments" deal with generic styli,which have quite large cantilever tubes. I cut the stylus tip about 1/8" from the end (diamond end) and slip it over a needle that fits.

I repaired a stylus one time with an A/T Technicraft TC 4000, which is a beautiful nude shank line contact from the late 80s. I had nothing to lose except for this tip which was so tiny the job was nearly impossible. I used a fresh drop of Krazy Glue on the OUTSIDE of the 1/32" length of cantilever that was available, and it worked, and is still alive today. That is, the cactus needle was attached to the outside cercumference of the cantilever tube, as the fine stylus cantilever was very soft and squashed so I could not get it to slide over a cactus needle. I rarely use it and I have no idea how permanent this will be. But when I decide to use it full time, I will find a low viscosity or consistency enamel cement to give an "extra drop" of bond strength.

You can see that I have such small involvement with this particular thred due to the reason that it is quite different repairing the high quality styli vs generics. But a link above reminded me that DIY AUDIO forum and a couple others have some incredible DIY turntable talk, and little about DIY styli.

Thanks for the detailed reply 1200y3. Quite ingenuous you are.

ba

[Audioplus93]

Ouch, either way, it sounds quite pricey, either a Sound Smith retip or the Gyger FG11. Guess cactus styli won't work with MMC cartridages?

Thanks for the input!