Cartridge tag woes (AKA Crying into my Friday nit curry)

A tale of recent events ....:violin:

Ok so in a relatively non random order it goes like this -

1) Missus away for the night - check :)

2) Curry ordered - check :whistle:

3) Beer in fridge - check :cool:

4) rig warmed up and ready to go - check :)

5) Moggie fed and banned from room - check :ner:

There was I psyched and ready to go for an evening of curry , beer and turntable groovyness. Tense with anticipation I dropped the needle onto Kate Bush's recent live offering and sat back with a glass and closed my eyes..

Attachment 20910

Mmmmmn... sounds...like......mono.......

WAT!

6) Cue cold sweats and a realisation that the left hand channel was silent.

7) Hyperventilation...:help:

8) Panics , recovers, panics, recovers (repeat ad naseaum )

9) Checks speaker connections - fine.

10) Checks connections from phono stage to turntable - fine.

11) Now in full on Miss Marple detective mode double checks connections from stage to amp - fine

12) Starts to weep silently into Chicken Madras.

13) Sauce to chicken ratio gradually increases by 30%.

14) :bulb:

15) Checks cartridge tags and finds one has come away from the wiring .

16) Mildly swears and rages against the injustice of the HiFi Gods, fickle that they are, while shaking fist at sky "GAH!".

17) Taps furiously into Google and find various options of cartridge tag replacement and considers expense of a full tone arm rewire.

18) Checks banks balance and scratches head, opts for replacement tags only.

19) Finishes chicken madras, finds it slightly watery and saltier than usual..:scratch:

20) Mitchell tags arrive via EBay.

Attachment 20911

21) Decides to make good broken finger lift bit by filling and painting to square it off.

22) Solders new tags using hi tech bespoke jig

Attachment 20912

23) Files and squares off the finger lift bit, paints with black paint to disguise bodged efforts.

Attachment 20913

24) All soldering etc done, cartridge (ZYX Yatra) remounted and back in the game.

Attachment 20914

25) Goes back to listening and thanks fickle Gods of HiFi for their help in solving intractable problem.


;)

Couple more pics

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From above

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I often have to resolder cartridge tags and keep a few spare ones. I don't take the arm off to do it though. Nice cartridge the Yatra (deserves a 774 :)).

Yes it was easier than I expected, easier to take the arm off than move the TT though, it also meant I could make good the bit where the finger lift had snapped. Will get a new arm sometime, will be a choice between new amp/arm. I'll probably get a new amp 1st though.

Couldn't you resolder the original tag, at least to salvage music for the evening?

drunk a bit by then :)

listened to some cds I hadn't heard for a while so it was ok really.