Andy Kim - Needle Clinic


I wanted to put this post out there about Andy Kim of Needle Clinic, located in Bellevue, Washington. As many may know, Andy is a cartridge re-tipper. I tried to find some older posts to add my comments but couldn't find them. So I'll start another OP. I just got my Lyra Kleos back from Andy today. Here's my comments.

My Kleos sounded a little off lately, so I thought it should be checked out. I sent it to Andy Kim. It turns out all that was needed was the stylus required a cleaning and polishing. Andy reported back that the stylus only has about 10 percent wear; IOW plenty of life left.

So I remounted the Kleos today and have been playing all types of music: rock and roll, classical, and so forth. The Kleos sounds wonderful; just great. Kudos to Andy Kim.

Fyi -- some may ask why I didn't send it to Peter Ledermann at Sound-Smith. I seem to recall reading somewhere that he's been unusually busy lately -- and with good reason -- and turn around might be a bit delayed. Also, I'm not sure Peter uses replacement cantilever/stylus assemblies that match (or at least come close to) the original. Andy does.
Anyway, that is a bridge I don't have to cross today.

Bottom line: Andy turned my cartridge within a week of receipt and I am pleased.
bifwynne
Just look at it as not getting the discount on the cart, if you purchased it as a package.
He is very good.  Had him do a Benz Glider for me a few years ago.  sounded better than the original Benz.
I've managed to break the stylus off my Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood, not once, but twice.  The first time I sent it to Soundsmith and the second I sent it to Andy Kim.  Both were competent and the cartridge sounded great after the retip.  Andy was a lot faster and it was a bonus that he was "local" (here in WA state).  I've learned to be super careful with the Virtuoso and hopefully the next retip will be due to wear, not operator error.
Does anyone know if the Boron Stylus used by Needle Clinic and the Soundsmith are the same as the OEM Boron  /Stylus of a ClearAudio Goldfinger Statement?
Current spec for gfs on Clearaudio site states stylus as Gyger S. Previous spec was micro HD iirc. You just need to know which you have and ask them directly!