Refurbished / Re-tipped Cartridges - Are they worth Buying?

@mulveling, @lewm 

Thank you gentleman for your well thought out responses. Good to know there are some reliable resources that can rebuild your treasured cart with same materials (if available). I did liked your comment about outcome of such rebuild as hybrid design with good results but different. The owner who has spent considerable amount of time with original build is in a position to judge whether rebuild is worth keeping around. This makes it a worthwhile endeavor on high priced carts or those no longer in production. 

Welcome to the wonderful world of vinyl playback :-) 

Agree with those above who have had good experience with Soundsmith rebuilds. Peter rebuilt a Lyra Skala for me a year ago and I’ve been very happy it. It is a beautiful, musical experience listening to records now.

Once he gets the cart he does an assessment of what needs to be done and what options you have. He is very clear on cost up front, so it’s a user friendly experience. Plus my wife was very happy that I spent under $1k instead of $9k+ on a new Lyra.

Another reason to prefer the factory is the parts selection process. A factory can afford to order many parts and use the best only for its most expensive cartridges, and sell or throw away the dregs. A retipper, perhaps not.

When it comes to most moving coil cartridges "retipping" is a misnomer. They simply hand you a new cartridge in exchange for the old one. What happens to the old one is a mystery. My guess is that most of them find the round file.  I personally would never have a pricey MC like Raul's Lambda SL replaced by anyone other than the original manufacturer. 

Vintage cartridges are another story. I have tended to shy away from these as I was never impressed with their build quality. Now, companies like Jico are manufacturing replacement styluses for legacy cartridges with modern materials. Sentimentality finally got ahold of me and I purchased 2 Shure V 15V cartridge bodies with the intent of getting Jico styluses for them. Back in the day the V15 was the cartridge to own and I wonder how it stacks up against modern cartridges. Curiosity killed the cat.