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Does it make sense to retip vdH Grasshopper cartridge

I bought vdH Grasshopper cartridge in 1985.  With integrated head shell.
I have retipped twice in the Netherlands.  First time, they sent back the regular version that mounts in a head shell.
Now we are at 3rd time.  The tip fell off, after I used a stylus cleaning liquid. BTW - no warning that cleaning liquids dissolve the glue between cantilever and tip.  Now I am back again for fixing it.
Should I send it in for retip and suspension, close to $ 1,000 or is it time to get something new.

I would really like to stay below $ 1,000.   Turntable Oracle Delphi, tone arm ET-2 linear tracking.
dcaudio

Showing 3 responses by jperry

jperry
1,408 posts
 
I don’t think you will do better than the Grasshopper for under $1,000. Use Magic Eraser for cleaning instead of liquid cleaners.
jperry
1,408 posts
 
All that said it leads to an interesting discussion since Van Den Hul retips and repairs cartridges from other manufacturers.

Do you think VDH does a disservice to those customers?

How many cantilevers and stylus configurations are really proprietary, in that nobody else has access to those parts?

How many cartridge manufacturers make their own in house styli and cantilevers, as opposed to purchasing from a specialist manufacturing those parts?


jperry
1,408 posts
 
I generally agree with you on the statement below. However I think the line gets drawn at about $2,000, and in some cases higher for manufacturers that use OEM parIs readily available.

“I believe that the average cheap cartridges can be upgraded by retipper with better parts such as stylus/cantilever, but very special cartridges can not be upgraded by retipper if the retipper is not the original manufacturer of the cartridge. “

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