KISEKI PURPLE NS your reviews....

Touché. I don't see why an experienced retipper, having access to the same parts supplied by the same jewellery companies, couldn't perform the job in the same way as the person or company who designed and built it.

One of the reason @edgewear is that some important parts produced 30 years ago are not the same (or don't even exists today). And since you're not a re-tipper yourself you never know. I never owned Kiseki, so i can't comment on this particular brand. But retipped cartridges are often on ebay almost unused as the OP pointed before while the originals are not always there. And don't forget about some exclusively made parts for big cartridge manufacturers. 

Re-tipping cartridges discussions...how does that address andychris’s question about those who have actually had a KPH NS? Just sayin!

Some vintage cartridges use materials no longer available, while retippers are obviously restricted to the use of currently available cantilever materials. In these cases they will have to use all their skill and imagination to decide what to use as an alternative in order to get as close to the original specs. Or perhaps improve on them. There's little doubt that the retipped cartridge will sound different to the original. The customer will have to decide if he likes the result, but the alternative is a worn out cartridge gathering dust in a closet. 

My argument is with the 'assumption' that only the original manufacturer is capable of restoring a cartridge with identical sound for cartridges currently in production. We have to assume that the materials they used in the original are still readily available. In such cases I don't see why a retip by an experienced third party couldn't produce the same results.

The manufacturer of the current Kiseki NS cartridges is likely confronted with the same problem of having to choose other materials than Kiseki used in the 80’s. This probably explains why folks who compared the originals to the NS have noticed a very different sound. If one is looking for the ’old school’ Kiseki sound, retipping an ’original’ is perhaps the better option. Especially considering the apparent QC issues with the current models. Just sayin’. 😱