I'm building a unipivot tonearm from scratch (scrap!). Very low mass (I hope). It uses a 78 rpm needle as the pivot. As yet it is a bit wobbly but I hope to cure this when I add the counterbalance (probably lead).
Foto of rough effort attached. The brass tube in the photo will be replaced with an aluminium tube when the post arrives. The counterweight end is decoupled and will be on a silver steel rod (or carbide if I can find some).
I need a cartridge for this but don't want to spend a lot on an experiment that may fail and may end up damaging the cartridge.
If anyone has a high compliance cartridge (from the 70s?) with some hours left on the needle (any life, even a few hours - so long as it won't damage an LP) they would be willing to part with I'd be grateful for any offers.
I was planning to get one from the Audiojumble but this isn't happening anytime soon.
ebay have some but they are expensive and I'm unwilling to buy one only to find it is pre-broken. (I've had a couple of bad experiences lately - who hasn't?).
I am thinking of cartridges such as Shure M75ED, M75EJ etc. V15 III , Goldring G800, etc etc).
If only I hadn't given them away when I gave up vinyl (the first time). Please help out an old timer.
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PS. Any hints or help gratefully appreciated. If I am going very wrong, please let me know before I go too far. I hope to tidy it up later (otherwise SWMBO won't let it in the house).