Koetsu Urushi stylus shape

If you like your Urushi then I would wholeheartedly recommend having MoFi Distribution handle a “factory” rebuild.

Having dealt with a large number of new & rebuilt Koetsu pickups over the years I can say their rebuilds look like they were built by a robot with better than new alignment/geometry. Highly recommended. No affiliation.

Hi Lewm,

If you want to keep the characters of the Koetsu, I caution you on using aftermarket retippers, especially VDH!

Just to share my experience, about 20 years ago, I bought a used FR64S and the seller also sent me a vintage long body Koetsu rosewood without the cantilever.  Not knowing whether I would like the Koetsu sound at the time, I opted to send the rosewood to VDH, instead of Koetsu, for retipping. The returned cartridge worked and sounded fine, but it didn't have the famous "warm" sounding which Koetsu cartridges were known for.

A few years later, my friend loaned me a, then current, Koetsu rosewood for comparison. This newer rosewood sounded a lot warmer than mine. So, I am pretty sure the retip by VDH did change the character of the rosewood, more like in between a Koetsu and a VDH. Personally, I liked the VDH retipped rosewood better, but if you are looking to keep the Koetsu character, the VDH retip probably would not fit you.

Bests,   

If the Cart' is enjoyed in the current condition, and the only requirement by the owner, is to have a new stylus added.

A return of a Cart' to a manufacturer might not offer a service that is limited to replacing the stylus only.

On returning a Cart' to a manufacturer, there is a possibility that the service will incorporate more than the exchange of the stylus only.

If the Manufacturer is changing other parts used in the Cart's assembly, there is the possibility the Cart' can be returned to the owner with a material added that is  'equivalent' in function, but not the same to those it was sent with.

The longer the Cart' has been owned, the more likely the Manufacturer has been sourcing different components for modern generations/variants of the Cart'.

I do believe that their are Manufacturers that are very considerate to their customers and do concern themselves with being able to keep a Cart' true to the era it was produced.

It would be good to know of considerate manufacturers, that would keep a stock pile of earlier generation parts, apart from a styli, to be used on returned Cart's from the earlier generation productions. 

There might be a detection by the Cart's owner, that the returned Cart', if incorporating new parts, is being perceived as having a sonic difference. 

My experiences encountered, where there has been comparison demonstrations of different Stylus Forms used on Ortofon Cartridges, that are from different production era's, but share similar methods used for the Cart's designs, is that the assessments made are leaning toward the Stylus does not appearing to be solely responsible for impression the Cart' can make.

The differences detected in the presentation of the variations of the Cart's being demonstrated, is most likely caused by choices of materials selected for the overall assembly of the Cart' and the methods used for the assembly.    

I bought my Urushi in Tokyo.  I still have the dealer warranty card, and I am sure that I could submit it to Koetsu for rebuild under the auspices of the Tokyo dealer, which would probably be less expensive than going through the US distributor, who probably would not want to handle it anyway. for the foregoing reason.  However, I am not a patient man. The cantilever on my sample is fine and OEM, so all I need is a new stylus.

Expert Stylus was the go to rebuilder for Koetsu cartridges in Europe during the transition time between the elder and son. Seems like the best choice for service if not using the factory rebuilder.