I have a Rek-O-Kut K-33H TT with S-120 tonearm. Recently one of the proprietary headshell pins broke, the flat section used to solder the headshell wire broke off leaving the pin flush with the plastic collar. I was able to solder the headshell wire to the pin by pushing it in, but the wire had to be soldered to just the tip of the pin leaving a very small and fragile solder connection. It was functional but so fragile that the wire would break off whenever the wires were moved. These headshells are hard to find and the pins are even harder to find (if you can find them at all), so I decided to try to fabricate my own. The thicker part of the pin that makes contact with the tonearm pins is 1/16 inch, so I picked up some 1/16 inch brass rod at Hobby Lobby. Since I don't have a lathe, I had to improvise. I used my drill press and files to spin down the brass rod to the size needed for the thinner part of the headshell pin. I drilled a 1/16 inch hole in a 2x4 and clamped it to the drill press plate. This way the rod had support at the top from the drill chuck and below from the 2x4. The below pic shows the rod after filing.
Here are the original pin and the new pin before cutting the rod down to size. The new rod looks thicker than the original but it's just the camera angle. On the original pin the thinner part was longer and flattened out. This is where the headshell wire was soldered to the pin. There is also a spring that slides over the thin part of the pin to apply pressure to the tonearm pin. I forgot to take a pic of that.
And here are the old and new pins after cutting the brass rod down. Again, the new pin looks thicker and the thicker part looks longer but that is also due to the camera angle.
I fitted the pin new pin and spring into the headshell and now have plenty of room to solder the headshell wire to the pin. I now have roughly 3/16 inch of rod to solder the wire to. I installed a cartridge and gave it a spin. Everything sounds fine to me with no detectable difference in sound level between channels.
I love it when I am able to come up with a functional yet inexpensive fix, especially for a part that's virtually unobtainable!
Joe
Here are the original pin and the new pin before cutting the rod down to size. The new rod looks thicker than the original but it's just the camera angle. On the original pin the thinner part was longer and flattened out. This is where the headshell wire was soldered to the pin. There is also a spring that slides over the thin part of the pin to apply pressure to the tonearm pin. I forgot to take a pic of that.
And here are the old and new pins after cutting the brass rod down. Again, the new pin looks thicker and the thicker part looks longer but that is also due to the camera angle.
I fitted the pin new pin and spring into the headshell and now have plenty of room to solder the headshell wire to the pin. I now have roughly 3/16 inch of rod to solder the wire to. I installed a cartridge and gave it a spin. Everything sounds fine to me with no detectable difference in sound level between channels.
I love it when I am able to come up with a functional yet inexpensive fix, especially for a part that's virtually unobtainable!
Joe
Last edited:
