Fidelity Research FR-7 Repair

It may look as if I have something against my younger brother or
to enjoy teasing him. But the ''truth'' is our religion which must be
obey. Now the case is that not all FR-7 kinds have the same
cantilever length. Ikeda obviously experimented with different
cantilever length . This btw may explain his (later) cantileverless
designs. So the worry about the''right geometry'' is , say,
questionable.
As we can see(?) the other advantage of aluminum (alloy) 
cantilevers next to ''pressure fitting'' instead of gluing the stylus
IN is that it can be straighten if dent for whatever reasons. Try
this with the so called ''exotic kinds'' and you will discover what
this advantage means. The curious thing is that while my brother
recommend ''exotic kinds'' and long for beryllium and hole 
boron pipes he admire the most his Takeda cart with aluminum
cantilever. 
The only risk our letch may be confronted with is refusal to
to straighten his cantilever because no profit can be made
by such ''repair''.    

@letch can you tell us what Soundsmitth said about the condition of the cartridge please? Many say that it's an exceptional cartriidge. My fear is repair fees arising from suspension or coil failure. I think i read that the actual design is very robust and not prone to failure. I get that impression with several MC's of that era the juys at Expert Stylus said that Supex's when kept care of can easily las 30 years.

They haven't done an assessment yet. I asked them about the possible need for replacement (instead of, as Nandric suggested, mere repair) and they said if the cantilever is bent, it will need replacement. I'll post back when they let me know what the deal is. I'm not against replacing it. Just hoping that it sounds the same.

It will not sound the same when you change tip or cantilever. 
If you want it closer to the original use aluminum cantilever with press-fit LineContact nude diamond. 

''ít will not sound the same when you change tip or cantilever''. 
But this may also mean that ''it'' can sound better. To grasp the
issue one need to see how any cantilever/stylus combo is glued
 into ''joint pipe''. Joint pipe is usually an aluminum pipe on
which coils and tension wire are fastened. In this pipe all
manufacturer and retipper must put the same cantilever/styli
combo as provided by big (Japanese) supplier. Why the
manufacturer are assumed to do this job better is an enigma.
By such circumstances one should check his premiss and
start again if the premiss is not true. 
The used glue needed to ,uh, glue the cantilever in the joint pipe
can be desolved in order to remove old and substitute the new
cantilever. The retipper need to use the same length and stylus
orientation. That is all.