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
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.
@lewm

So, at the present moment, which Grace cartridge do you think is the very best one to own? If I am going after a rare Grace, I may as well pursue their best. Thanks.

in my opinion the very best (true winners and champions) are:
LEVEL II (LC-OFC) RB/MR (Boron Cantilever / Micro Ridge stylus)
F14 BE (LC-OFC) with Beryllium Cantilever / Line Contact stylus

None of my Grace cartridges have had any problems with suspension or any problem at all, there is nothing to fix and nothing to tune if you are buyin NOS sample. Those cartridges are very expensive from the start, made in the late 80’s and extremely rare today. Also i would prefer fully original condition and i don’t need anyone to touch it, those retippers go to hell with their prices. Sending a cartridge to re-tipper only make sense if it doesn’t work at all (or broken), but even in this situation i would wait for the original stylus to buy.

For those who are optimistic about Van den Hul service should check his prices first, installing a Boron Cantilever will cost 750 euro minimum (which is about $870) and you must apply via his distributor in your country. At the end It will be Boron Rod, but not the Boron Pipe which comes with the original Grace top models, beryllium is no longer available from anyone. Original cartridge is the best!