Fidelity Research FR-7 Repair

''Pure theoretic'' consideration means without any experiment or
experience. This is identical with ''assumptions only'' aproach. 
So the only possible check is logical: if the assumptions are not
true then neither are deduced statement. Our chakster believes
in manufacturer authority and intentions despite our long disputes
about tonearm geometry. In addition he distrust retippers and
never retipped any of his carts. So his advice is ''based'' on his
believes. Letch could also ask his mother for advice.
The difference between Stevenson and Beearwald is about 1mm.
Aka effective length Stevenson 245 mm, Bearwald 246mm. 
I can't remember how many retips I have had. With Axel  my
retipper for years I become friends. Alas he was/is not able to
do the work because he lost comand of his left hand. But he
was nearly 70 and with 50 years of experience. 

Wouldn’t Soundsmith maintain the same cantilever length?

There's a manual? I'll check...

Again assumptions. They probably will but this would
 imply Stevenson geometry. My FR-7 fz sample .is
retipped by Van den Hul who increased the cantilever
length  to fit Bearwald geometry. So I got boron cantilever
 with Van den Hul (aka Gyger) stylus. My Mint tractor is
 made for my SP-10,mk 2 and Bearwald for my FR-64 S.
 I  owned all other FR-7 kinds but kept the FR-7 fz. The
only technical difference is (slightly) higher output by FZ.
I am sure you will be satisfy with your FR-7 . Also the
 price at $450  is modest in comparison with European
 prices. 

Our chakster believes in manufacturer authority and intentions despite our long disputes about tonearm geometry. In addition he distrust retippers and never retipped any of his carts. So his advice is ’’based’’ on his believes.

Been using at least 4 re-tipped and re-cantilevered cartridges and all of them were worst than the originals, so never again (and this is one of the reason i am against the retip/refurbishing), for me it’s obvious that no one can make better than the original, especially if the original manufacturer is a BIG company and cartridge design is a clever design. Re-tip is a compromise only, people trying to pay less and they will get what they are paying for. Using a third party parts instead of the original is worst idea in my opinion and some cartridge designers already posted about it on this forum many times. I have no idea why people retip cartridges or refurbish them if better cartridges available even for the price of the retip (many great cartridges available at $500-700).

The difference between Stevenson and Beearwald is about 1mm.
Aka effective length Stevenson 245 mm, Bearwald 246mm.

You are talking about Pivot to Spindle distance, but how can you twist a cartridge designed for Stevenson to align it by cantilever position, there are 3 steps in any protractor and the problem is not that stylus can reach those points, the problem is that a cartridge body must be turned to the left or to the right in the headshell because the cantilever must be in line with lines printed on protractor, your headshell intergated cartridge will be off the alignment and changing PS will not help you, because FR7 does not move to the left or to the right in the headshell at all. Some people just don’t understand it! They want to create more problems for FR7 series.

With Axel my retipper for years I become friends. Alas he was/is not able to do the work because he lost comand of his left hand. But he
was nearly 70 and with 50 years of experience.

Axel refurbished cartridges are worst than the originals and i was able to make sure about it, compared them in my system. He’s been using Nagaoka cartrilevers transplanted from Nagaoka cartridges to Technics MM by gluing them using as you said joint pipe. Those cartridges are worst than the original, because the boron cantilever is rod, not pipe (like the OG) and stylus is glued. The last cartridge he touched stop working after 1 year (one channel malfunction). This is waste of time and money. It will never be better than the original (if the original design is a good one). Invest in original cartridges, perfectly working samples, NOS units and you will be fine. Don’t like them - buy another (better cartridges). Any good cartridge is a very delicate devise and it’s better not touch it. We see many retipped and refurbished cartridges for same, this is the best place for them. Only manufacturer can guarantee that a cartridge will be the same as new after their service, but even manufacturers prefer to give us a brand new cartridge instead of the broken one. 

Dear chakster, Our ''dispute'' become very difficult if one confuse
spindle to pivor distance with effective lenght and persist in
believe that manufacturer ''know better''. As Raul and Kessler&
Pisha have shown neither of all 22 tonearms are without errors.
Primary by ofsfset angle and overhang. Either they considered
tonearm geometry as not important or were not familar with them.
You also suggest that retippers use different cantilever/styli
combo's than manufacturer. But both get those from the same
supplier. If you assume some special art needed to glue an
new  cantilever in the  joint pipe  you probably have never looked
at those parts in an MC cart. Each retipper prefer to do  the
whole cantielver/stylus instead of stylus only retip. No wonder
by the price difference ;$  200 versus $500. Axel refused even
to me to do stylus only retip. He got so much work that he was
able to chose. I then moved to Expert stylus in UK who
still do stylus only retip for 200 euro. They also produce styli
which are identical qua dimensions with Van den Hul. They
provide Deccas with those styli. 
.