Fidelity Research FR-7 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.

Not all aluminum cantilevers are the same, not all diamonds are the same, especially after 40 years, combination used by Ikeda is not available today, but similar materials available. Those new aluminum cantilevers does not even looks like old from FR-7 series, diamond was called Refined Contact Diamond. I’ve seen many aluminum cantilevers in my life and they are all different size, mass, shape, length

Boron or Ruby is completely different, it can be better or not, you never know. I want to remind that FR-7f anf fz are amazing cartridges as it is, when you change something it’s not necessary must be better. It’s likely you’re ruining all calculation made by cartridge designer (for this reason i never retip or refurbish any vintage cartridge, it’s better to buy another sample).

Aluminum is not expensive, so if something went wrong you will not lose too much $$$