I have not heard such a combination but I've heard a Urushi on an SME V and I like it. My regional distributor also uses an SME V. And another friend here has a Rosewood Signature on an SME 309. Lovely combination.
Koetsu
- Thread starter jadis
- Start date
The certificate of rebuilt for the Tiger Eye was sent by snail mail as Koetsu forgot to include it during the shipment. Service completed. As someone mentioned, it's really like getting a new cartridge for a fraction of its SRP, and it's an option that most of my customers chose when they broke it.
Those are super photos .. must be the camera (and the photographer I guess)
Best I can do with a phone.
Best I can do with a phone.
That Rhodenite is gorgeous! I always wanted one but it's too late now, I guess.
I recently picked up a 1990s era Micro-Nikkor lens off ebay for like 200 bucks. That plus a simple tripod (I've had since the 1990s), and either remote shutter or timer fire to reduce camera judder does the trick
I didn't even use mirror lock-up; that should help make the images a bit more crisp next time.
I recently picked up a 1990s era Micro-Nikkor lens off ebay for like 200 bucks. That plus a simple tripod (I've had since the 1990s), and either remote shutter or timer fire to reduce camera judder does the trick
I didn't even use mirror lock-up; that should help make the images a bit more crisp next time.
Magic eraser sheets (these are relatively new and are the perfect thickness already), cut into a 1 inch long rectangle-ish shape. Then dip into a corner, with the long part coming towards you, and with a single finger rotate back and forth (carefully!) to “scrub” all around the stylus. Sometimes add a drop of water to the dip spot.
do that once per session or 2. Long bristle synthetic dry brush (Japanese companies like Shelter and Fidelity Research sometimes include a white brush that is perfect) to brush after every side and after the Magic Eraser treatment. Also brush all up and down the cantilever and front plate!! Any debris left anywhere on the assembly is asking for a chemical reaction to start happening. That's why you want long bristles, not those silly little circular pad brushes.
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Beautiful picture, Ralphino?!!
Enjoy your Koetsu… I’ll bet it sounds marveloues.
Have the best weekend
/ Jk
Looks like you are good to go… Great
!One can’t have to much tools in the vinyl business.
All the best
/ Jk
Whaaoo…!! Soo beautiful, mulveling..!!Here's my Musashino Labs labeled Onyx Signature (short body), probably minted in the late 80's or early 90s? I acquired it 7 years ago from the original owner's son. The story is that he went to Japan and came back with a $5K phono cartridge; everyone in his family thought he was absolutely nuts!
This cart was all original, never re-tipped, and still made absolutely beautiful music on outer & middle grooves -- though much of the stylus shank was now permanently encrusted with dirt, and the tip was audibly worn (affecting playback of inner grooves). This is the cart that sold me on Koetsu, though I immediately acquired a new Platinum model because of the worn tip. I finally had this one rebuilt by Koetsu this summer, retaining the original alnico magnets rather that upgrading it to platinum, and have it spinning again! Very nice cartridge!!
I got the original Koetsu headshell with it too. And it has a particularly lovely Onyx grain on that one side!
Looks like the rings of Saturn. Nice to hear you made a rebuild of the jewel.
/ Jk
That rotation procedure sounds like it might be very effective - must give it a try. So how thick is the ME piece when sitting on the platter?
The new Magic Eraser "sheets" are only about 1.5mm thick. With the original Magic Eraser blocks, I would cut a piece (with very sharp razor blades) that was ~ 3 - 4 mm thick and it was hard to ensure a consistent thickness from end to end. I now prefer the sheets. Super easy!
Please excuse the cheap Fluance and 2M Blue (not worthy of a Koetsu thread!) pictured here, as it's what I have in my office (I need to dust lol), but this is exactly what I do on my main rig also! I would gently "push" with my finger so the piece rotates away from spindle, then move finger to the other side and push it back towards spindle; repeat a few times. The dipped stylus serves as the pivot point. I've done this procedure for 4 years starting with my Blue Lace Diamond, usually with a drop of water. As per my pics above, styli will remain shiny and clear, with no accumulated build-up of any kind.
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Thanks Mulveling, I'll have to hunt down some ME sheets - never heard of them. This surely seems about the best method available to keep that stylus clean and shiny, maybe along with the occasional dip in the DS Audio goo pad and swipe with the Lyra SPT.
I've been using a wedge shaped piece of ME on the end of a toothpick and simply bumping it up to the stylus several times as it sits freely cued up. This seems to work pretty good and quick and easy to do after each side but I'm definitely giving your method a whirl. thx again.
I've been using a wedge shaped piece of ME on the end of a toothpick and simply bumping it up to the stylus several times as it sits freely cued up. This seems to work pretty good and quick and easy to do after each side but I'm definitely giving your method a whirl. thx again.
I have two Koetsus-- a Jade, which sounded great out of the box and a Tiger Eye, which needed a little playing in (around thirty hours) to tame some stridency. The Tiger Eye now sounds great and seems to have more high frequency info than the Jade- the mythology is that they put better motor assemblies into the higher ticket cartridges, the character of the stone may affect the sound, I don't know. I run the Koetu on an Airline arm and it is fabulous- not just the midrange, which I'm very particular about, but far more tone, texture and gravitas in the bass.
For cleaning I got paranoid about stressing the stylus and quit dunking, whether it was the Zerodust or whatever, Blu-stuff or even ME (which gave me great results). Melamine was originally developed as a sound proofing material and in combination with mass loaded vinyl can stop sounds dead. (I use it to quiet the air compressor that drives my arm- the compressor is in a custom box located in an adjacent room).
When you wet ME, I think it behaves differently than dry.
Like I said, I may be too paranoid.
I found a photo of my main system back in 1975- and noticed a stylus brush I had completely forgotten about- it came with the original AT- Shibata I bought back in 1973 or so. Apparently, AT was still supplying that brush with the cartridge that had the coils on the cantilever. I reached out to their parts department and the gent there said they don't sell it separately but was kind enough to send me 5 of the brushes. Unfortunately, apart from the one I'm using I gave the rest away. It is a longer bristle brush, which enables me to clean the cantilever, unlike those standard issue "pad" type stylus brushes. I like the longer bristles for that reason.
For cleaning I got paranoid about stressing the stylus and quit dunking, whether it was the Zerodust or whatever, Blu-stuff or even ME (which gave me great results). Melamine was originally developed as a sound proofing material and in combination with mass loaded vinyl can stop sounds dead. (I use it to quiet the air compressor that drives my arm- the compressor is in a custom box located in an adjacent room).
When you wet ME, I think it behaves differently than dry.
Like I said, I may be too paranoid.
I found a photo of my main system back in 1975- and noticed a stylus brush I had completely forgotten about- it came with the original AT- Shibata I bought back in 1973 or so. Apparently, AT was still supplying that brush with the cartridge that had the coils on the cantilever. I reached out to their parts department and the gent there said they don't sell it separately but was kind enough to send me 5 of the brushes. Unfortunately, apart from the one I'm using I gave the rest away. It is a longer bristle brush, which enables me to clean the cantilever, unlike those standard issue "pad" type stylus brushes. I like the longer bristles for that reason.
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