Headshell Help! Shorted?

[Sailnir]

I am facing an issue with my turntable. It seams that the headshell is not fucntioning properly. I only get left channel audio and I get a low hum from the other side. If I touch the wires attached to the headshell going to the right channel then they are very touchy, sometimes they stop humming and sometimes they don't. Occasionally I can get a whole record to play with both channels of sound but most often I am just frustrated. The turntable is a Yamaha P-300.

How should I troubleshoot this?
If I need to purchase a new headshell, how do I buy one?

 

[patient_ot]

Is this your first time using a Grado on this turntable? They are known to hum on some TTs. If that is the issue, you'll have to get rid of the Grado and try something else.

Re: your headshell, you need to test it with a multimeter to see if the wiring is still good. Odds are the headshell is still good but you need new wires. You'll want short ones for this type of headshell.

As for replacements, I've dealt with this before because one of my TTs is a Yamaha P-700 and uses the same type of headshell. There are some after market ones that will work but they are all vintage. Best bet is finding an OEM and expect to pay a bit for it as they are hard to find these days (I bought a few extra when I found them). Whatever you do, don't buy Pfanstiel. Those are crap, little bits of plastic plug the connector holes and make them impossible to actually use.

Good luck.

 

[Sailnir]

Is this your first time using a Grado on this turntable? They are known to hum on some TTs. If that is the issue, you'll have to get rid of the Grado and try something else.

Re: your headshell, you need to test it with a multimeter to see if the wiring is still good. Odds are the headshell is still good but you need new wires. You'll want short ones for this type of headshell.

As for replacements, I've dealt with this before because one of my TTs is a Yamaha P-700 and uses the same type of headshell. There are some after market ones that will work but they are all vintage. Best bet is finding an OEM and expect to pay a bit for it as they are hard to find these days (I bought a few extra when I found them). Whatever you do, don't buy Pfanstiel. Those are crap, little bits of plastic plug the connector holes and make them impossible to actually use.

Good luck.

Thanks for the help. I will look into buying new wires for the headshell, specifically not Pfanstiel wires.

 

[patient_ot]

Thanks for the help. I will look into buying new wires for the headshell, specifically not Pfanstiel wires.

I was talking about Pfanstiel headshells, not headshell wires. If you just need new wires, AT 6101 are short and good quality and should work if you carefully install them with small tweezers. Problem is, you won't know if the wires are the problem until you get your hands on a multimeter, remove the cart from the headshell, and test.

One more thing: are the wires tight on the back of the cartridge pins or are they loose and sloppy? If they are loose, that could be a problem and result in what you are describing.