Anyone else having trouble getting cartridges back they sent for repair?

Has cartridge repair ever been a big thing?

Unfortunately the demand seems to far exceed the capacity of those who do it. Seems par for the course as best I can tell.

Myself, I’ve never had a cartridge repaired. If one goes or I don’t like it anymore I just replace it. I will not go into 4 digits for any cartridge for this reason. Its just one of those things those who do may have to deal with along with all the rest that goes with high end phono rigs.

It’s usually the stylus that goes first with cartridges. One used to be able to easily buy replacement styli for most any popular cartridge. There are still places to do this on the Internet but I am guessing many popular high end carts are not designed to be able to easily replace the stylus when it wears? If so what’s up with that? You pay top dollar for a cart that will have a limited life (they all do) and no easy way to repair it when needed? Does not sound very high end in terms of usability and customer satisfaction if so.

Another high end audio consumer trap? Please correct me if I am wrong about this.

So I disagree with Axel being ''faster and

cheaper'' than the rest. BTW strange comment in this thread.

Dear chakster, I already mentioned in the other thread (?) that

you learn very fast. So  you grasped at once that Axel ''being

fast'' was , say, an wrong expression. I am now curious about

wntrmute 2 reaction about my suggestion that he as an active

membr does not read our forum contributions (grin).

Dear Mapman, ''Please correct me if I am wrong''. This is your

own request. However you ''confessed'' to have never done

any re-tip. This means that your opinion is based on pure

speculation. The usual re-tip consist of glueing  the  already

made cantilever/stylus combo by the producer into the so called

''joint pipe'' on which also the coils and suspension are fastened.

For an aluminum cantilever with elliptical stylus one need to

pay about 100 euro. The more exotic cantilevers and styli cost

more . By the MM carts the mentioned combo is glued on the

remains of the original cantilever. This kind of retip I have done

just once. Finding (replaceable) stylus is , in my opinion, better

option. My MC carts I have done more than 20. Our former member

Dertonarm retipped his FR-7fz  cart 4 times in Japan. Depending

on the price which one has paid for the cart one will decide if'

and what kind of retip one should chose. BTW those ''re-tippers''

are much more cheaper than the manufacturer. I own one Koetsu

Rosewood  which is ''refurbished'' by Koetsu for 2200 euro by the

former owner . My most expensive retip (by Axel) was 500 euro.

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Nude GYGER II diamond stylus and aluminium cantilever EUR. 345

NUDE shibata stylus and BORON cantilever EUR. 495

Nude elliptical diamond and BORON cantilever EUR. 359

Nude elliptical diamond and aluminium cantilever EUR. 225

NUDE shibata stylus and Alu cantilever EUR. 299

Nude ( fine ) line diamond stylus and aluminium cantilever EUR. 199

Hyper elliptical diamond stylus and aluminium cantilever EUR. 199

Shibata diamond and aluminium cantilever EUR. 199

Elliptical diamond stylus and aluminium cantilever EUR. 99

Suspension repair starts from 60 EUR?

** inspection charge is 30 EUR?

Expert Stylus & Cartridge Co 

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Paratrace stylus on aluminium cantilever  £162

Paratrace stylus on sapphire cantilever  £180

**can't remember instection charge.

P.S. According to the pricelist each of us can decide is that worth to re-tip, repair or rebuild or just buy new or used cartridge. Sometimes it’s better to buy another cartridge, especially when it comes to MM/MI and even for some MC if they are not mega rare.