Caballo
New Member
Long time lurker, first time poster.
Some of you might know this vintage AT cartridge series, a great MM design with a beryllium cantilever and super tiny shibata that's rare as hen's teeth.
Imagine my dismay when, during an attempt to correct what looked like a slightly off-center rotation of the cantilever, the assembly came apart at the filament that holds the suspension together.
Luckily, I am a mechanical engineer and prototyper and am generally unintimidated by broken anything. Careful examination revealed that the filament and the anchor that attaches via the "compliance adjustment screw" have little to no bearing on the effective tip mass of the stylus. This meant that whatever solution I could come up with to hold the thing together would not change the sound appreciably, freeing me up to come up with something buildable.
That solution? Monofilament, 8 lb test, 0.012" thick, and superglue. Could have probably used 4 lb test (0.008" thick) but it's hard to come by and would have been that much harder to work with.
The first step was to glue one end of the monofilament to the end of the cantilever, which, thankfully, ends in a disk-shaped boss. I used a nail file to ensure the monofilament end was more or less perpendicular to the length. Pointy, curved electronics tweezers were essential tools, as was good lighting and a magnifying glass.
After letting it cure for about an hour, I fed the rubber suspension bushing through. It is designed to fit flush with the cantilever boss, so you must avoid using too much glue, which would form a hard fillet that the rubber can't fit around.
I never did find what became of the original filament, probably because it's extremely short, with no gap between the bushing and anchor. It's unrealistic to try to recreate a filament of the same length. I left a stub of about 1.5mm and glued the brass anchor to the other side. Again, avoid using too much glue, or the anchor won't fit through the hole in the stylus holder.
After it's all cured, you're ready to replace the assembly into the holder. You'll notice that one end of the brass anchor sticks out the other end of the hole, because you've made the assembly longer than intended. The stylus holder won't fit back onto the cartridge like this. Take the assembly back out, and, while holding on to one end of the anchor, clip off the extra length with a pair of flush cutters.
Now you're ready to put it back together, align the cantilever, set the compliance, and place onto the cartridge. I am happy to report no appreciable loss in sound quality, and it still trounces my AT-15Sa in bass tautness, treble clarity, and soundstage width!
Please note that this is an EXTREMELY tricky process. It took multiple tries to glue the pieces in line with each other. Superglue does not like to stick to itself, so before each new try, I had to clean the old glue off very carefully. I don't recommend anyone doing this for fun, but if you are stuck, make sure you got food in your stomach, and take it as an opportunity to enjoy a real-world application of mindfulness!
P.S. Just wanted to thank the members of this forum for providing great research material! Especially Manfred (@lini ) whose numerous posts on vintage Audio Technica cartridges have been essential!
Some of you might know this vintage AT cartridge series, a great MM design with a beryllium cantilever and super tiny shibata that's rare as hen's teeth.
Imagine my dismay when, during an attempt to correct what looked like a slightly off-center rotation of the cantilever, the assembly came apart at the filament that holds the suspension together.
Luckily, I am a mechanical engineer and prototyper and am generally unintimidated by broken anything. Careful examination revealed that the filament and the anchor that attaches via the "compliance adjustment screw" have little to no bearing on the effective tip mass of the stylus. This meant that whatever solution I could come up with to hold the thing together would not change the sound appreciably, freeing me up to come up with something buildable.
That solution? Monofilament, 8 lb test, 0.012" thick, and superglue. Could have probably used 4 lb test (0.008" thick) but it's hard to come by and would have been that much harder to work with.
The first step was to glue one end of the monofilament to the end of the cantilever, which, thankfully, ends in a disk-shaped boss. I used a nail file to ensure the monofilament end was more or less perpendicular to the length. Pointy, curved electronics tweezers were essential tools, as was good lighting and a magnifying glass.
After letting it cure for about an hour, I fed the rubber suspension bushing through. It is designed to fit flush with the cantilever boss, so you must avoid using too much glue, which would form a hard fillet that the rubber can't fit around.
I never did find what became of the original filament, probably because it's extremely short, with no gap between the bushing and anchor. It's unrealistic to try to recreate a filament of the same length. I left a stub of about 1.5mm and glued the brass anchor to the other side. Again, avoid using too much glue, or the anchor won't fit through the hole in the stylus holder.
After it's all cured, you're ready to replace the assembly into the holder. You'll notice that one end of the brass anchor sticks out the other end of the hole, because you've made the assembly longer than intended. The stylus holder won't fit back onto the cartridge like this. Take the assembly back out, and, while holding on to one end of the anchor, clip off the extra length with a pair of flush cutters.
Now you're ready to put it back together, align the cantilever, set the compliance, and place onto the cartridge. I am happy to report no appreciable loss in sound quality, and it still trounces my AT-15Sa in bass tautness, treble clarity, and soundstage width!
Please note that this is an EXTREMELY tricky process. It took multiple tries to glue the pieces in line with each other. Superglue does not like to stick to itself, so before each new try, I had to clean the old glue off very carefully. I don't recommend anyone doing this for fun, but if you are stuck, make sure you got food in your stomach, and take it as an opportunity to enjoy a real-world application of mindfulness!
P.S. Just wanted to thank the members of this forum for providing great research material! Especially Manfred (@lini ) whose numerous posts on vintage Audio Technica cartridges have been essential!
Last edited:
