Any experience with Sound Smith repairing stylus on non-Sound Smith cartridges?

@drbond, Boron generally stiffer and most high end cartridges are using it now with a few using diamond. One uses a cactus spine! I would go with Soundsmith's ruby cantilever and OCCL stylus. They use this set up in the Sussurro and The Voice so, I know they have it available. The question is will they put it in someone else's cartridge? I think the OCCL stylus is going to be the closest to the Krystal "vital fine line" stylus. 

My problem with the aluminum cantilever is the way the stylus has to be mounted leaves a lot of mass at the end of the cantilever in the worst place. As far as aluminum cantilevers go I think AT makes the best one, a tapered tube. I think they use it in the VM760SLC. The Ruby cantilever in the Soundsmith cartridges is very fine. It is red which is cool but it looks like it would snap at the slightest tap. It is actually very tough and holds up well. 

Some months ago, JCarr, the creator of Lyra cartridges, for those who don't know, wrote a nice piece here wherein he suggested that when re-tipping a cartridge it is best to replace like with like, when it comes to the choice of cantilever material. The rationale for that advice is that the suspension was designed for the mass and rigidity of the original cantilever.  You may want to search for his post here to read his actual words on the subject.  By that reasoning, replace alu with alu.  Stylus shape can be altered, I think he would say. 

As to the question of whether SS will install a ruby cantilever with OCL stylus, the answer is yes.  They did that for my Grace Ruby. (SS also offer a complete new stylus assembly for the Ruby, including its ruby cantilever and OCL stylus, but I had them replace only the cantilever and stylus on mine.)

SS did two amazing jobs for me- a dynavector dv20x2L with new ruby cantilever with stylus and same for an ortofon cadenza blue.  

the dynavector sounded much better, the ortofon slightly worse but still great.  

@lewm 

Thanks for the recommended thread on stylus tips, etc.  That is an excellent discussion on parts and re-tipping cartridges, along with the usual banter amongst contributors.  For reference, here's the link: (I don't know why the copy/paste operation on Audiogon pastes the link in such a large area)

SS did work on two cartridges, a Coral 777 which involved a new ruby cantilever and line trace stylus and a Benz Ebony L where only the stylus was replaced.  Work on both was done well.  The Benz sounded great as the stylus was worn.  The bass on the Coral was different sounding and in hindsight I probably should have kept Al as the cantilever material.  Timing and cost were reasonable for both.  I've also used Steve Leung at VAS three times now.  I had ZYX Airy 3x which he inspected, cleaned and repaired, the issue was corrosion on the coils and the suspension needed fixing.  He also inspected and cleaned my Dynavector XV-1s.  On both I thought the stylus needed replacement but it was not the case for both.  More recently I received a Krell KC-100 with a damaged cantilever for some work I did for the previous owner.  Steve replaced the cantilever and stylus, have not heard it yet as I'm in the middle of moving.  For me Steve is easier to reach than SS although the timing and pricing is about the same.