Cartridge Repairs, Retipping and Replacement Styli Suppliers. A list!

[walpurgis]

.



Cartridge repair services, including retipping


Goldring, UK, they take on repairs for other makes, http://www.goldring.co.uk/cartridge-repair.htm

Expert Stylus Company, UK, http://www.78tours.com/Expert_Stylus_Company.html

Sound Smith, USA, http://www.sound-smith.com/services/cartridge-rebuilding-retipping

Northwest Analogue, UK, http://www.northwestanalogue.com/cartridge-repairs.html

Nadelspezialist.de, Germany, http://www.nadelspezialist.de/

Phono Cartridge Repair, USA, http://www.phonocartridgeretipping.com/

Phono Phono, Retip-Service, Germany, http://www.phonophono.de/phono/ersatznadeln/retip-service.html

Garrot Brothers, Australia, http://garrottbrothers.com/repairs-retipping

Van Den Hul, Holland, http://www.vandenhul.com/products/phono/cartridge-repair-modification-and-re-tipping-available-services

John Wright, Decca specialist, UK, http://www.london-cartridges.co.uk/

Ortofon, cartridge repair service, Denmark, http://www.ortofon.com/hifi/products/repair-service




Replacement styli

It is usually best to source an original stylus from the manufacturer where possible, but replacements for more obscure or discontinued styli are available from alternative sources


Jico, Japan, http://www.jico-stylus.com/index.php?osCsid=af4g9pkbrlg92psmg6ijo5hv53 Can be found on eBay.

Pfanstiehl, German (presumably), no website located, but Jackstuff.com in the US is a main supplier http://www.jackstuff.com/pfanstiehl_replacement_needles/home.htm Can be found on eBay.

LP Gear, USA, http://www.lpgear.com/category/OPSN.html

Mantra Audio, UK, http://www.mantra-audio.co.uk/

styli.co.nz. New Zealand, http://www.styli.co.nz/

Stylus Plus, UK, http://www.stylusplus.co.uk/

Get The Needle, UK, http://www.gettheneedle.co.uk/

Musonic, UK, http://www.musonic.co.uk/

Needle Doctor, USA, http://www.needledoctor.com/Replacement-Stylus Can be found on eBay.

Voice of Music, USA, http://www.thevoiceofmusic.com/

Ed Saunders, Shure replacement styli, USA, http://www.edsaunders.com/shurestylus.htm

Turntable Needles, USA, http://www.turntableneedles.com/



This list is by no means comprehensive. There will be further cartridge repairers and stylus suppliers out there.

[karma67]

Very handy thread there geoff,nice one!

[walpurgis]

Very handy thread there geoff,nice one!

Glad you like it. We aim to please! :D

[Ammonite Audio]

This chap seems to have a good reputation for retipping and repair https://www.schallplattennadeln.de/REPARATUR-RETIPPING/

[walpurgis]

Ah, Good. Any additions are welcome.

I knew of the name but couldn't find the site. Maybe I spelt it incorrectly :).

[Barry]

These people look to provide an interesting service: cartridge fettling; new bodies; coil rewinding; cantilever replacement and stylus retipping
http://calamightysound.com/cat/cartridges/cartridge-retipping/

[CageyH]

I thought LP gear were in the USA?

[walpurgis]

I thought LP gear were in the USA?

Quite right. I'll correct that. Thanks.

[YNWaN]

The Garrot brothers are unfortunately deceased and I believe Van Den Hul no longer offers a re-tipping service.


100% Analogue

[walpurgis]

The Garrot business continues and Van Den Hul still offer a service as far as I'm aware. Try the links to their websites.

[YNWaN]

Yes, I have. The Garrott name was apparently bought out after their deaths, so it does look like a business still exists. VdH doesn't list any re-tip prices but the service is still listed so perhaps it is still offered.


100% Analogue

[rubber duck]

Very timely thread and sticky this, thanks Geoff. I've been looking for a sensibly priced retipping service for some time. At £300+ for a new stylus, it is often more economical to either exchange an old cart for a new one, or just sell it cheap and buy something else.

So 100 euro for a new elliptical stylus at schallplattennadeln is perfect to revive cheaper MCs. Even his fine line and Shibata are 30-40% cheaper than the equivalent in the UK. I’m sending off my Sumiko BPS and will report back!

[walpurgis]

I’m sending off my Sumiko BPS and will report back!

Yes. Definitely let us know how this turns out.

[Barry]

Yes, I have. The Garrott name was apparently bought out after their deaths, so it does look like a business still exists. VdH doesn't list any re-tip prices but the service is still listed so perhaps it is still offered.


100% Analogue

I've just acquired an EMT XSD cartridge that has been re-tipped with a Van Den Hul stylus by EMT-Studiotechnik (Germany). So whilst Van den Hul may no longer offer this service, his stylii are made available to other parties.

[CageyH]

There is also this place - http://www.pickupnaalden.com/english/turntable_needles.asp

I have not used them, but they seem to have a large stock.

[rubber duck]

I've just acquired an EMT XSD cartridge that has been re-tipped with a Van Den Hul stylus by EMT-Studiotechnik (Germany). So whilst Van den Hul may no longer offer this service, his stylii are made available to other parties.

My BPS was rebuilt by A.J. himself, new cantilever and stylus. That was in the mid-90s. I'm not sure he would still physically be able to do this himself anymore, even if this service was still offered. Anyone know if vdH (the company) still rebuilds carts? They list cartridge repair and retipping in their price list but no actual prices.

[pcourtney]

This chap seems to have a good reputation for retipping and repair https://www.schallplattennadeln.de/REPARATUR-RETIPPING/

yes Alex is the Daddy, but he is 74 now and has passed all of his B&O repairs to Franz-Josef Schulte as of March 2016

F.J. Schulte, Schnadweg 28, 33142 Büren, Telephone: +4929516025084 www.tonabnehmerservice.de

Franz-Josef's email address is : info@tonabnehmerservice.de

highly highly recommeded, he has worked his majic on a number of B&O MMCx carts for me over the years and these are much preferred over the new Soundsmith B&O SMMC alternatives coming out of Peter Ledermann's shop.

[uzzy]

The Garrott business may still continue but the brothers are now deceased .. I was also led to believe that the brothers learned their trade working at Expert Stylus ..

[anubisgrau]

that must be some other brothers

[Martyn Miles]

Expert Stylus have been superb over the years. I bought an Entre 1 in 1979 and it's still working perfectly.
They have fitted many new styli and Wyndham Hodgson ever rebuilt/rewound a coil.
WH said it is still one of his favourite cartridges.
He 'phoned and told me after a re-tipping.

[Hannes]

yes Alex is the Daddy, but he is 74 now and has passed all of his B&O repairs to Franz-Josef Schulte as of March 2016

F.J. Schulte, Schnadweg 28, 33142 Büren, Telephone: +4929516025084 www.tonabnehmerservice.de

Franz-Josef's email address is : info@tonabnehmerservice.de

highly highly recommeded, he has worked his majic on a number of B&O MMCx carts for me over the years and these are much preferred over the new Soundsmith B&O SMMC alternatives coming out of Peter Ledermann's shop.

Axel Schürholz now passed over all his activities to Franz-Josef Schulte not only the B&O section like before. They retipped my Yamaha MC-9 with excellent results. I will send it again if necessary.

[Ammonite Audio]

These people look to provide an interesting service: cartridge fettling; new bodies; coil rewinding; cantilever replacement and stylus retipping
http://calamightysound.com/cat/cartridges/cartridge-retipping/

Now re-named Ana Might Sound, and still highly recommended. Francois at Ana Mighty has particular experience with Miyajima cartridges, which means any Miyajima owner can keep their cartridge going pretty much indefinitely, at reasonable cost.

http://anamightysound.com/
https://www.facebook.com/anamightysound/

[slaba]

I too can also recommend Ana Mighty Sound (http://anamightysound.com). I have had the chance of listening to some of their modifications like the Denon 103 based (http://anamightysound.com/cat/cartridges/103x/) 103.two, 103.three, 103.four and EMT based Mighty TNT15 (http://anamightysound.com/cat/cartridges/mighty-tnt15/) first hand at home on my system and I was totally sold to what I heard

[AlasdairB]

I recently put my old Goldring G900SE which had been retipped many years with a 0.5 thou naked spherical stylus by Expert Stylus back into play. It still sounded very good, so I splashed out £93 on a new hyperelliptical stylus ('Tonar') from Mantra Audio. This is exceptionally good. In my Mayware MkV arm it tracks everything at 1.1g and in overall sound quality clearly beats my previous (very good) Denon DL103 with Esco sapphire cantilever and Paratrace stylus. If you have an old G900, this replacement stylus is well worth a shot.

[Barry]

I recently put my old Goldring G900SE which had been retipped many years with a 0.5 thou naked spherical stylus by Expert Stylus back into play. It still sounded very good, so I splashed out £93 on a new hyperelliptical stylus ('Tonar') from Mantra Audio. This is exceptionally good. In my Mayware MkV arm it tracks everything at 1.1g and in overall sound quality clearly beats my previous (very good) Denon DL103 with Esco sapphire cantilever and Paratrace stylus. If you have an old G900, this replacement stylus is well worth a shot.

The Goldring always was a very good cartridge and a bit of a sleeper.

[phonomac]

I can thoroughly recommend Kilian Bakker at http://holisticaudio.nl/services.html. He recently restored the suspension on my Ortofon Vienna and fitted an FGS stylus. The result retains all of the dynamics of the Ortofon Akzent series and adds detail retrieval on a par with the Windfeld.

I believe he used to work for Ortofon, and his services are up there with the best.

[rubber duck]

How much is a retip?

[phonomac]

How much is a retip?
Renewing the suspension and installing the FGS stylus cost 400 euros.

[WESTLOWER]

Angus can you delete your mail box please cheers
Adam

[JohnG]

The following are a list of Cartridge Services that will offer a rebuild service.
Holistic Audio has high recommendation on AoS.
The others are services placed by members on another forum.

www.audiosilente.com
www.cartridgelab.it
www.holisticaudio.nl
www.torlai.it

[AlasdairB]

After a lot of happy listening my Tonar hyperelliptical G900 stylus wore out, so I sent it to Expert Stylus for retipping with their Paratrace line contact (£120). The sound is now even better still and, I suspect, fully the equal of a good original G900IGC. For anyone with an old G900IGC (or other G900 series cartridge) in the drawer and a suitably lightweight pickup arm I'd recommend this as a seriously good option.

[Liberdade]

This is a very useful thread. My Grado Reference Series Platinum 1 cartridge is poorly - occasionally, one channel increases noticeably in volume, suggesting that the cartridge needs a retip, or possibly that the cantilever is moving. Who would you recommend in the UK to inspect & repair this cartridge? Or would it be better to replace, either with a new Grado, or a high output MC?

[Barry]

This is a very useful thread. My Grado Reference Series Platinum 1 cartridge is poorly - occasionally, one channel increases noticeably in volume, suggesting that the cartridge needs a retip, or possibly that the cantilever is moving. Who would you recommend in the UK to inspect & repair this cartridge? Or would it be better to replace, either with a new Grado, or a high output MC?

I would send it to Expert Stylus Company for their advice, but if you don't want to do that you can either contact Grado themselves, or contact a Grado dealer in the UK.

ESCo:
Address: Harriotts La, Ashtead KT21 2QB
Phone: 01372 276604

Grado:
https://gradolabs.com/cartridges

Grado dealers in the UK:
https://shop.mantra-audio.co.uk/acatalog/Grado_Cartridges.html
https://www.hifigear.co.uk/brand/grado/cartridges.html
http://www.britishaudio.co.uk/grado.html
https://www.audioaffair.co.uk/hifi/turntables-analog/phono-cartridges/moving-coil-cartridges/browse/grado

[JohnG]

My Trust is with Holistic Audio.
I am more than impressed with their guidance offered, and as a result of taking their advice, I am totally satisfied with the comparative performances on offer, when A/B compared to the Cartridge that My one was produced to be a mimic variant of, if that is the correct description.
A very rare unique built Cartridge, that was Limited Production, now has a Mimic Cartridge, built from a much easier to obtain Kb model, that is almost disguised as its much more exotic sibling.
I would not hesitate to drop Kilian Bakker at HA a mail and get a assessment of the Grado.

[Qwin]

Has any one used Northwest Audio - Carnforth, Lancashire?

I have an Ortofon MC20 Supreme that has sagging suspension, not quite bottomed out, but only useable on dead flat records.
Nice cartridge, I would like to keep it, so looking for a new suspension and re-tip.

What am I likely to pay for this kind of work?

[RobbieGong]

My Trust is with Holistic Audio.
I am more than impressed with their guidance offered, and as a result of taking their advice, I am totally satisfied with the comparative performances on offer, when A/B compared to the Cartridge that My one was produced to be a mimic variant of, if that is the correct description.
A very rare unique built Cartridge, that was Limited Production, now has a Mimic Cartridge, built from a much easier to obtain Kb model, that is almost disguised as its much more exotic sibling.
I would not hesitate to drop Kilian Bakker at HA a mail and get a assessment of the Grado.

+1 Superb work, Kilian Bakker is a top guy to deal with, his work is top draw IME.

[Qwin]

Holistic Audio, are they in the Netherlands?

[RobbieGong]

Holistic Audio, are they in the Netherlands?

Yep, service is excellent !

[KJM]

Yep, service is excellent !

2nd that. Kilian's top drawer. Rebuilt my Linn Troika when the suspension collapsed.

[Paulie72]

I bought an retipped Benz Micro Glider L2 and HA103CL from Holistic Audio. Kilian is a kind and patiënt person. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201111/21571f21d7401e20e93c54cb3320212d.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201111/b8892ae2a29784ac7779de6123edfaad.jpg

Sent from my VOG-L29 using Tapatalk

[Old Grey Grump]

So, I killed my AT33PTGii last night, only has about 60 hours on it so hardly broken in :-(

Anyway, it's a boron cantilever and micro-line stylus so I'd want a retip to at least match the original performance. In the UK, (or possibly EU), where would you guys look to get this retipped? (without it being too crazy expensive as a new one imported direct from Japan can be had for around £400)

[WullieD20]

That's always going to be just the biggest PITA when that happens..... Sympathies, as we've nearly all probably had a mishap of that nature.

Would contacting AT direct with a view to exchanging the cart using their 'trade-in' (https://www.audio-technica.com/en-gb/cartridges/styli-accessories/a-t-moving-coil-trade-in-program) scheme not be one the best cost effective solutions?

Just an idea....

[Andy831]

Martin

Might be worth a chat with your insurance broker, maybe you could be covered on the house policy?

[WullieD20]

Martin

Might be worth a chat with your insurance broker, maybe you could be covered on the house policy?

Good call; been there. done that!. . . .:goodluck:

[Old Grey Grump]

Thanks both, I hadn't thought about house insurance, I'll have a look at the policy, see what 'Accidental Damage' cover I've got

[WullieD20]

Thanks both, I hadn't thought about house insurance, I'll have a look at the policy, see what 'Accidental Damage' cover I've got

Don't forget to check any 'excess' you may have to fork out if you make a claim (to justify the total cost and even the future cost of any possible increase in premium due to a claim).

My insurance is expensive ('All risks' and 'new for old'), so I have a fairly large excess, subsequently not worth claiming for a lot of stuff.......

[losepete]

Hi Ken

I had a Kiseki Blue Gold Spot retipped by Northwest Analogue and will happily recommend them.

I should think you are looking at a little above £300 but that is my guess - best way to get a price is to contact Dominic https://www.northwestanalogue.com/contact-us.html

[gwernaffield]

i have just had a benz micro wood m2 repiared by soundsmith in the usa , had a ruby cantilever fitted to replace the boron one, cost was $399 plus post $35 , it was done with in a week, and sent back the total cost was £311, magic

[steveharman]

Recently my parents-in in-law's Zu-Audio DL-103R lost its cantilever and tip - we still have no idea how.

After some crazy quotes from specialists here in the UK (usually many hundreds of £ more than the cartridge cost) I was recommended to Joseph Long in the US, by Terence at Paradox Pulse (https://www.paradoxpulse.com/)

Long story short - Joseph is highly recommended and the work was done for a great price. There was literally a menu of diamond & cantilever options to fit all pockets. We went for a "Nude 8/70 micron Ogura Vital line contact diamond on hardened tapered thin wall aluminum cantilever" which including fitting, testing and and full report with microscopic and test equipment images ame to $250 USD. Shipping was £25 GBP each way and the cartridge was back within two weeks sounding way better than new!

• Email: Cartridge_Retipping@outlook.com
• eBay: https://www.ebay.com/usr/cartridge_retipping-5
•*Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/groovetickler/

Hope that helps someone.

Cheers,

Steve

[anubisgrau]

Has anyone used services of Dong Bum Kim (Analog Technik)?

[drSM]

Recently my parents-in in-law's Zu-Audio DL-103R lost its cantilever and tip - we still have no idea how.

After some crazy quotes from specialists here in the UK (usually many hundreds of £ more than the cartridge cost) I was recommended to Joseph Long in the US, by Terence at Paradox Pulse (https://www.paradoxpulse.com/)

Long story short - Joseph is highly recommended and the work was done for a great price. There was literally a menu of diamond & cantilever options to fit all pockets. We went for a "Nude 8/70 micron Ogura Vital line contact diamond on hardened tapered thin wall aluminum cantilever" which including fitting, testing and and full report with microscopic and test equipment images ame to $250 USD. Shipping was £25 GBP each way and the cartridge was back within two weeks sounding way better than new!

• Email: Cartridge_Retipping@outlook.com
• eBay: https://www.ebay.com/usr/cartridge_retipping-5
•*Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/groovetickler/

Hope that helps someone.

Cheers,

Steve

I found Joseph Long thru one of his eBay listings
He did an excellent job on my 103r. I went for the standard $125 (at the time ) elliptical .
Going to send him a couple of old Ortofon MCs to sort out. Highly recommended.