I have joined in the ZYX Family

don_c55, Your reasoning is based on guesses which are different

than assertions. Assertions should be based on arguments which

should not contradic each other. You are against retipps but you

buy second hand carts by which one can't know if the previous

owner retipped his cart. In additon you presupose that only the

manufacturer can do this job (retip) correctly such that the cart

will sound ''as before''. From this guess it follows that you have

no idea how moving parts in an MC carts look like and how they

are connted with each other. First of all all manufacturer get their

cantilever/styli combos ready made by their supplier. Styli are

produced by big ''jewel companies'' and not by cart manufacturer.

The 'nose'' of an MC cart consist of stylus, cantilever, coils and

the part on which coils and cantilever are fastened (glued). This

''nose'' is connected with the rest of the geneartor colled ''joint

pipe''. Usualy there is a small aluminum pipe in fron of the ''nose''.

In this pipe the cantilever is glued. Why do you think that this

work can only be done in the ''right way'' by the manufacturer?

To put this otherwise: why do you think that an retipper is not

capable to do this work ''as good''? The retip with the whole

cantilever/stylus combo is much more easy then gluing an new

stylus in place of the old one. Why is that so? For a manufacturer

to replace the stylus only means that one expert extra would be

needed for this job. If you are well informed you should know

that no manufacturer is willing to retip his own carts. They prefer

to offer new carts instead . The exception are cart producers

who also own an retips service. Van den Hul and Peter Ledermann

are examples.

This myth is also assumed by our ''cart expert'' from Mexico who

obviously has no idea how an MC cart is constructed.

When one look at the generator on can see those 3 screws.

Those are meant to fasten, tighten and center the tension wire

which connect the ''nose'' (moving parts) with the rest of the

generator or the  ''joint pipe''.

If one need a new suspension because the old one become to

soft causing ''low rider'' or to hard because the suspension dry

out causes limitation of the cantilever movement such that

the cart's tracking ability is so reduced that the cart can't be

used at all.

Well in order to put a new ''ribber ring'' instead of the old this

tension wire need to be removed first because the suspension

is behind the coils and does not belong to the moving parts.

This presuposes that the menitioned 3 screws must be reachable

from outside. In case of any ZYX this means that the body of

the cart must be cut or drilleed in order to get access to those

screws. That is because the body by all ZYX is glued together

acrylic without any access to those screws or inside of the cart .

That is why I stated in my former post that stylus worry is not

sufficient. Obviously no member of ZYX club has ever got

suspension problem. But if one would like to anticipate possible

problems one need to be well informed.

Addition. I ever started a new thread about ''irreparable carts''

because of  my experience with Sony XL series and my ZYX

sample both with glued together bodies with no access to

the inside parts of the cart. To my surprise nobody was

interested. But I was even more surprised to learn from my

comrade Don that the old master Mori who desigend the

XL series for Sony works by Jico styli and has the job to

produce those expensive SAS styli.  The difficulty is to

provide those styli with the mentioned tension wire,etc.

Don is famiiar with some person who also works by Jico so I

thought: ''heureka''. Would this Don's acqaiutance  be so kind

to ask Mori san if his XL carts are repairable? The answer,

alas,  was not as I hoped for. To be pricise I don't mean that

 a cart is ''theoreticly irreparable'' but in practical sense. That

is if nobody is willing to mess with my Sony XL 88 D. This

cart is regarded by some as ''the best ever'' . I own the cart

but, alas, can't use the precious because of the mentioned

reason: irreparable.

Skills and age. We probably assume that the older people get the

more problems with their mental and physical capabilities.

Does this apply for skills? We have Van den Hul who at age

of above 70 keeps his skills in good condition by producing at

least one cart pro week. As is known his customers can order

whatever output they want. This means winding the coil wire

on those very small ''bobins'' differently. We have Axel the retipper

who is above 70 but got so many orders that he was not able

to accept all the work. We have the old master Mori san who

designed XL series MC carts for Sony. He make those SAS styli

for Jico which involve tension wire for MM carts. Those are more

difficult then MC tension wire. Technics 205 series  styli are

irreparable because ot those tension wire. To exchage their

 suspension the tension wire need to be removed but it can't

be put back. We also have Allaerts who make his own coils from

 very thin gold wire. Look at the pictires of his coils to get ''the

picture''.  Everyone who owns an ''open MC cart'' can see how

 thin those coil wire are. Who would dear to touch them? But it is

 impossible to wound those coils without touching  them.  The

 answer is  continious practice in order to keep the involved

skills in good condition. We all have the so called ''motor

 cortex'' in our brain. This part  with further brain connection

govern our muscles. Our fingers in particular. Looking at ''Pieta''

made by Michelangelo from a block of marble with chisels and

hamers. One can hardly believe that this work of art is made

with human hands. This context of skills may explain why we admire

 old masters like Ikeda, Takeda, Sugano, Van den Hul , Lukatschek

(Benz) etc.