I feel the need to correct an earlier statement made about the Success of the SME Knife Edge Bearing, my prediction of 10's of 1000's is quite short the following is official:
Official Factory Production Statistics
Series I: 1959-1963, approximately 10,000 built
Series II: 1963-1973, approximately 180,000 built
Series II Improved: 1973-2003, 260,484 built
This Link has loaded better, it is best available to be read with an easy access.
There are Two accounts within this Thread, one from the attached link and one from a earlier post, that have content referring to the SME mindset for their Knife Edge Designs.
As these accounts are Polar Opposites, it is looking like One Account is with a content that is utter BS and has only been supplied to attempt to Bully an individual into a submission and acceptance of a incorrect statement.
My assessment is that the link is containing very accurate information.
https://www.tonepublications.com/old-school/sme-3009-tonearm/