Teach me about cartridge 'retipping'


Thought I would throw this out there for comment by long time vinyl aficionados...

We all have cartridges we love, some are pricey treasures... but they wear out eventually even with much care and diligence in use.

There are still some good folks with excellent reputations doing retip services of various makes - Peter at SS, Andy Kim in WA, Steve Leung in NJ etc etc... not to mention some of the manufacturers of course, who still do them. It would seem to me these old craftsmen may or may not be passing along these valuable skills to younger apprentices.

I have bought a couple Grace F9 retips from Peter Ledermann - they work wonderfully. No longer having a fresh factory F9L I will never know whether they sound different.  But they sound great.

Curious to hear comments about how these retips are done, and whether they can reliably reproduce the original sound signature of the cartridge. I wonder, for instance, about how the cantilever is removed and reinstalled, relative to the suspension of the original cartridge, etc etc.  Is the suspension replaced?  What is a suspension comprised of, for example, in a typical higher end MC cart like a Dynavector a Lyra a VDH...

Of course, as time passes, the original cartridges age and I can imagine suspensions in them eventually get compromised as well...
128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xjjss49
Dear @needlestein: "  Are you convinced by this argument? "

Well, I don't have any sign that he be a liar. 

I don't really have a " dog " here, I'm only sharing information coming from a third gentleman.

R.
I’m not saying he’s a liar.  I’m saying that he proposes an argument that is either convincing or not to you.  
I read this comment all the time on forums but not one customer has ever said, “Great work! But it sounds different than it did before and I wish I bought a new one instead.” That has happened exactly zero times. Quite the opposite. People are very very happy to have their cartridge back.

People often know nothing about cartridges, turntables, tonearms ... etc.
Most comments are irrelevant and can’t be used as evidence that re-tipping or rebuild with different materials are any better (if the original cartridge wasn’t entry level model like those 103 that are so easy to upgrade). People suffering when their only cartridge is broken and they want to get it back to life quickly, that’s it, they are happy once it’s back to their tonearm and they can continue to enjoy their music. Most of them are even more happy when they can pay less than retail price of a brand new cartridge. But they are not an experts, they are average users of analog systems. Reading comments from such people when they are raving about retipping/rebuild you’re quickly realize that it might be their 5th cartridge in entire life (or probably first MC). Those comments are useless for those who really understand what is a good cartridge and why certain original cartridge is so special.


@chakster 

could you please show us links to cartridges you sell, or to your shop?
chakster
People often know nothing about cartridges, turntables, tonearms ... etc. Most comments are irrelevant and can’t be used as evidence ... People suffering when their only cartridge is broken and they want to get it back to life quickly ... Most of them are even more happy when they can pay less than retail price of a brand new cartridge. But they are not an experts, they are average users of analog systems ... it might be their 5th cartridge in entire life (or probably first MC). Those comments are useless for those who really understand what is a good cartridge and why certain original cartridge is so special.
There is so much speculation here in one post that it boggles the mind. I am simply confounded that retipping of MC cartridges is so derided by some.