The Needle Clinic: Phono Cartridge Repair & Retipping

jazdoc

Member Sponsor
Aug 7, 2010
3,320
730
1,200
Bellevue
Just wanted to shout out to Andy Kim, the proprietor of The Needle Clinic here in Bellevue, Washington. I just got back my Benz LPS from a reconditioning and it sounds better than ever. Andy's turnaround time was 3 weeks and the price was extremely reasonable. I've heard nothing but good things about Peter Lederman at Soundsmith, but thought folks might want to know about an alternative. I'm going to have him take a look at my Dynavector XV1-s next....

http://phonocartridgeretipping.com/index.html
 

theophile

Well-Known Member

Grooves

Well-Known Member
Feb 29, 2012
152
0
323
Pacific Northwest
I had my cartridge worked on by Andy as well and it also sounded better than it had before I let him work on it. Then something happened to it, a probable known mishap during a remount. At that point it started to distort (mistrack?) badly. Andy took a "look" at it but by outward appearances it looked fine. The problem became worse. It was then I decided to send it to Soundsmith, who told me "We won't work on a cartridge that someone else has done work on regardless of what was done". So, I traded it towards a new cartridge. If I have another cartridge to work on I would probably let Andy do another suspension tune-up but I guess then it can't be sent in to Soundsmith, (unless it's not mentiond of course!).
 

BobM

Well-Known Member
Feb 5, 2014
169
9
150
64
Long Island, NY
I can understand how the suspension on a cartridge might wear down over time, but how does the diamond wear? Is there an average lifespan for something with a Shibata or fine line cut?
 

MylesBAstor

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
11,236
81
1,725
New York City
I can understand how the suspension on a cartridge might wear down over time, but how does the diamond wear? Is there an average lifespan for something with a Shibata or fine line cut?

Try searching the Ortofon A90 thread. There should some pics there. Number one reason is probably misalignment.
 

flez007

Member Sponsor
Aug 31, 2010
2,915
36
435
Mexico City
Just wanted to shout out to Andy Kim, the proprietor of The Needle Clinic here in Bellevue, Washington. I just got back my Benz LPS from a reconditioning and it sounds better than ever. Andy's turnaround time was 3 weeks and the price was extremely reasonable. I've heard nothing but good things about Peter Lederman at Soundsmith, but thought folks might want to know about an alternative. I'm going to have him take a look at my Dynavector XV1-s next....

http://phonocartridgeretipping.com/index.html

thanks Jazdoc! i need to have my Blue Angel Mantis repaired and will also consider this option.
 

unreceivedogma

New Member
Jul 30, 2014
1
0
0
re-tipping

I send my Koetsus to van den Hul regularly. van den Hul is less expensive than Soundsmith, and turns it around in less than 10% of the time it takes Soundsmith.


I had my cartridge worked on by Andy as well and it also sounded better than it had before I let him work on it. Then something happened to it, a probable known mishap during a remount. At that point it started to distort (mistrack?) badly. Andy took a "look" at it but by outward appearances it looked fine. The problem became worse. It was then I decided to send it to Soundsmith, who told me "We won't work on a cartridge that someone else has done work on regardless of what was done". So, I traded it towards a new cartridge. If I have another cartridge to work on I would probably let Andy do another suspension tune-up but I guess then it can't be sent in to Soundsmith, (unless it's not mentiond of course!).
 

Lardawg

Member
Apr 19, 2022
9
3
10
66
I used Andy to repair a damaged my damaged Sumiko blue point special EVO3 with a broken cantilever. He answered my e-mails in less than 30 mins. and there were many (lol) & was very helpful in deciding my best path to repair. I went with a boron cantilever & hyper-elliptical stylus he also rebuilt my suspension which was damaged unbeknownst to me.. Andy’s turnaround time was 2 days from receipt of my cartridge to back in the mail to me. His quality of workmanship looks impeccable under my microscope & my EVO 3 sounds better than when it was new (and it sounded fantastic to me new). I would highly recommend Andy to anyone looking to retip their cartridge
 

the_nines

Well-Known Member
Jul 6, 2019
44
151
120
Old thread, but happy to give my two bits ..

Very happy with the workmanship and service from Andy.

Some time ago, Andy had worked on my Benz Ref3. I had initially given the Benz to Soundsmith for repair which took two months. I used the cart for a while and then one day the stylus fell off (literally became unglued just a month after the warranty from Soundsmith had expired). They (Soundsmith) wanted to charge me again for a new repair job $500 and they wouldn't budge at all in giving me any slack for the month after the warranty. Not cool. I mean I wasn't expecting a freebie, but c'mon, really??

Andy repaired it at a reasonable price and within a reasonable turnaround time. The cart sounds fantastic.
 
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hifigi1

New Member
Dec 20, 2023
1
0
1
64
Mid-Atlantic USA
I bought a Denon DL-103S from Japan with a broken cantilever on Eb@y. I sent it to Andy for a Boron cantilever/line contact stylus repair. I spoke to him on the phone, which he answered immediately, about my options. A really nice guy. Round trip coast to coast turnaround was 7 total days. Sounds great for what has to be the best value of anything in my system.
 

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