Progress at londondecca.com

When londondecca.com was first up, they had prices listed, but that page has disappeared. The most recent info I have is that enquirers are told there is a $150 diagnostic fee, and then they will tell you what the rest of the bill will be. John Wright charged me $1300 for a full Reference rebuild, and I think the page mentioned above showed an increase to $1889.

@dogberry I suspect the pricing will be a far cry from the £350 JW charged for a Paratrace on my SuperGold etc. Are the repairs being done in the US, and by whom? Maybe it's just a slow start and poor website design but I’m not really impressed by the whole thing to be honest.

Repairs are being handled in the UK, by a tech called Neil Marshall. He is based in Sowton, on the outskirts of Exeter, in Devon. I understand that when you send him a cartridge it is to be sent to his (?)brother at a garage as they are open every day to receive packages. This may have changed since, and likely will if this becomes a full-time job. He wrote a PM to me saying:

I am 'the guy' in Devon who has been tasked with such projects, but this is the first I am hearing of your mission, having just read through some of the posts on here.
I am just starting up with the Decca's, have been building eye wateringly expensive moving coils for many years, so am getting my head round its MANY quirks and foibles....ooooh, so many!  That said, you won't find anyone more dedicated to the cause of building/rebuilding the best and most consistent Deccas , now my life's mission!!!
This isn't going to happen overnight.....my goal is to be able to work with owners on an individual basis, to be able to give each and every person exactly what they require,  but being as each and every cartridge is, to be polite, 'individual'  I am going to have my hands full to fine tune every nuance to provide everyone with exactly the sound they like best.

I'm at the sharp end, as in looking down the wrong end of a telescope with a pair of very pointy tweezers,  but there are other people doing the business side, which really isn't me, in fact, I hope I don't get into trouble for sending this message.
Getting the whole thing set up is proving an absolute nightmare, and extremely time consuming.
 From my perspective,  I am holding down a full time job, but hopefully this could lead to full time just doing the cartridges, both new and rebuilds.  Once everything is completely sorted,  rebuilds will be turned around very quickly.
I'll come clean with the management that I have contacted you as I feel it's only fair that ALL enquiries should be addressed.  
You are correct, things are slow at the moment, but I'm very passionate about cartridge building/repair and as soon as I have all the parts delivered it will be full steam ahead.

When I replied I heard back from the owner, Stewart Suda (he is the owner of Rogers Music Systems, which is the agent for Rogers speakers in the USA, based in Green Bay, WI.), and I had the impression he was not pleased that Neil had contacted me. However, I have had friendly e-mails from him since. It must be a bit of a nightmare to get all the manufacturing going again, which I assume is still to be done in the UK. You might know that John ran out of armatures and failed to acquire the dies for making them. Three people tried to help (two cartridge techs known on the forums as needlestein and cafe latte respectively, and also Peter Ledermann). An additional complication is that the steel they are made from is a non-standard thickness, and sheet stock has to be re-rolled to get it to the right size. This is expensive with a minimum order quoted to John of $50k. But by that time John's wife had retired and he just wanted out. Stewart writes:

I was introduced to Decca in 1972 and have had many over the years. When I had heard the company was going to close It took about three days of conversation with John and I bought the company. While it hasn’t been without trails it has been worth every minute. The biggest issue is the lead time to have the parts built. Every part is custom made and I refuse to cut corners. After all this brand is more than one of the finest cartridges ever made its a passion for all of us.

He has also indicated a new version of the Reference is in the works.

I'm just VERY glad I got my London's when I did. I fear the new ones are going to be far more expensive.

@dogberry Thanks for sharing. I gotta say this confirms my initial gut reaction about the reboot. Not confidence inspiring, somewhat disappointing, but probably understandable given the niche nature of the product. I believe the owner needs to be more transparent with this small but dedicated consumer base, especially if cartridge servicing is outside the US.