A pitch too High!

Why do you guys want me to buy a new Grado stylus. Are you assuming the stylus may be damaged? A few bounces across a record can damage a stylus is it. ? Thought it was made of tougher stuff. Though sound wise I don’t have an issue right now. I think a few more records down I’ll get a fairer idea.

You have no clue about condition of your stylus, you don’t have even a macro lens to check it (but actually you need a microscope to see it), you made claims many times how bad is the sound, your stylus has been used with the wrong tracking force and wrong anti-skating for some time. Every stylus have its life span, your stylus is elliptical and life span is short even at recommended tracking force.

If you are done with adjustment and everything is right then you can finally buy a new Grado stylus (it’s cheap as chips). You can even buy a better stylus from the next model (they are many options).

You even mentioned some new cartridge you want to buy, but actually all you need is a new stylus, not a new cartridge. Grado styli cost something like $150, some models like 8MZ, TLZ and XTZ with advanced profiles are the best and more expensive, but fully compatible with your cartridge body. New stylus from a higher model is a good upgrade for your cartridge. You can use old stylus for experiments (when you learn things how to adjust everything), when you're done and learned some lessons you can add new high quality Grado stylus. 

Spending $150.00 to retip a $250.00 cartridge seems a little nutty to me. Why not just wait and upgrade to a better cartridge? I had the $600.00 Grado and on certain records, it performed well above what one might expect for that price range. I started out with a Prestige and while it was free of listening fatigue, to me it sounded bloated. Audio Technica might be another good option.

Spending $150.00 to retip a $250.00 cartridge seems a little nutty to me. Why not just wait and upgrade to a better cartridge? I had the $600.00 Grado and on certain records, it performed well above what one might expect for that price range. I started out with a Prestige and while it was free of listening fatigue, to me it sounded bloated. Audio Technica might be another good option.

It’s not a re-tip! Leave your re-tip for MC. Re-tip is a drop of glue around new stylus tip on old cantilever (if the origina stylus tip is worn or damaged). 

I'm talking about original replacement stylus.

With MI/MM cartridges the stylus alone cost more than a cartridge body without stylus. Grado Black with the most expensive Grado XTZ stylus ($450 just for the stylus) will perform not like Grado Black anymore, it’s huge upgrade.

There are $70 styli from Grado too, but 8MZ, TLZ and XTZ are the best styli for Grado Glack,Blue,Green... series.

chakster, so your saying that replacing the stylus with XTZ on a $200.00 Prestige cartridge will out perform a $600.00 Sonata? Anyway, isn’t this the same service Soundsmith offers with there stylus and cantilever replacement?

chakster, so your saying that replacing the stylus with XTZ on a $200.00 Prestige cartridge will out perform a $600.00 Sonata?

I am not familiar with Sonata, but I have the original Grado XTZ, it was Joseph Grado signature model, his best cartridge in the 80's (the price tag on the box is $750, not cheap in the 80's). 

Anyway, isn’t this the same service Soundsmith offers with there stylus and cantilever replacement?

Genuine replacement styli are always different from those parts assembled together by re-tippers, you can't get Grado cantilever/stylus from SoundSmith. It's not the same "service" because replacement stylus for Grado is user replaceable, anyone can buy instal (very easy).