NOS Grace F9E question


A friend of mine gave me a Grace F9E to try on my 1200G.  He thinks it may be a good fit.  It appears to be brand new and never used.  It has a plastic protector that covers practically the entire cartridge.  I cannot get it off as it is on there very tight.  Is there any special way to get it of and not damage the cartridge?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
tzh21y
@tzh21y — The F9E is a wonderful cartridge and you’re fortunate to have it, especially if it’s NOS with years of beautiful music ahead of it.

Chakster doesn’t consider it a "winner". Maybe he means "winner" must be "the greatest", he doesn’t define the terms. If only the absolute best will do, he’s probably right. I wish I had his collection.

Even Muhammad Ali admitted he wasn’t "the greatest" — he gave that title to Sugar Ray Robinson. But Ali was pretty great, definitely a winner — and Robinsons are hard to find these days.


Dear @lewm : ""  Grace Ruby with SS OCL retip? ........ Only that it is very good in its own right. """

I never heard it but I can tell you that each one of my cartridges that send for a " refresh " or or changes in cantilever/stylus tip all of them improved  by a wide margin over the stock designs.

Today boron/jewel cantilevers and different type of stylus shapes ( line contact. ) as Micro Ridge or VDH and the like always change for the better those vintage very good cartridge " motors ".

Only to remember that mine cutex or Technics when return from VDH its performance grow-up lmost " orders of magnitud ".

I just can't imagine how good the Grace 9 " motor "  could be with the VDH chnages.

R.
@rauliruegas  I've been told that and am going to be purchasing the proper phono pre for that reason. 
@lewm , everything is important when you send a cartridge to a re-tipper ( I mean the re-tipper task. ) and the suspension fine tunning and new suspension dampers makes a lot of differences for the better and I said it because the " refresh " in my cartridges was only that and always returned the cartridge as it was a " new " performer at least the experiences listen was it.


@knollbrent , very good move you will be happy about.

R.