Which tonearm should I keep?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks...

"The companies are two separate and distinct entitites"

This is not a totally true statement, as Leonard Gregory has "exclusive" marketing rights to the Hadcock company.
There is no other "contact" for Hadcock, and to add even more information, the modern design improvements of the Hadcock tonearms were done by Leonard Gregory, which is how he got the exclusive rights.

To answer Bill Feil's email that he just sent to me (which should have been stated here, and not only to me)
As Bill states in the email:

"They are 2 separate companies. That is a true statement"

They are not separate, as, Mr.Hadcock CANNOT sell his own tonearm himself, only Mr. Gregory can sell the Hadcock tonearm...
For customer service, Mr. Hadcock does not and cannot be reached for customer service, only Mr. Gregory takes care of that.
Mr. Hadcock and Mr. Gregory are virtual "siamese twins" as Mr. Hadcock cannot operate without Mr. Gregory.
Maybe Mr. Gregory and you would like to "pretend" there is not financial tie between Hadcock tonearm and Cartridgeman cartridges (as especially in the past) as all advertising and reviews lead the buyer to believe that these companies are completely seperate.. but, that is not the case at all.
Just thought this should be openly posted, and not in an email.

Rick

No worries.. I'm not offended at all, I appreciate all contributions. I have not had alot of experience with the FR-64 tonearms, and only a bit more with the Technics EPA 500 series tonearms.
I believe Audiofeil is refering to my statements about Mr. Gregory controlling the sales and customer service of Hadcock tonearms, as I'm sure, both he and Bill (Audiofeil) would very much like everyone think they were completely seperate intities...but, they are not.
If Bill would like to tell us who else Mr. Hadcock can sell his tonearms to, or the contact email/phone number directly to Hadcock for customer service/sales (one not involving Mr. Gregory) please publish it..

Rick

Rick

Here are some direct quotes from Mr. Gregory, just so Bill (Audiofeil) doesn't have to worry about me being made to look a "fool", as these statements are Directly from Mr. Gregory:

"You may (or may not, I should think) know that George Hadcock retired in 1982 and that I decided to re-design the Hadcock range, and having done so got poor old George out of retirement in 1995 to make the arms for me as he still had the means of production and the knowledge to get production up and running quickly as I had enough to do making cartridges, stylus force gauges, and turntable level gauges et al. George carried on making the arms for me until he died unfortunately, the quality suffered slightly"

and

"This is why everything goes through me, I am the sole distributor of the Hadcock range, which I feel is my due being not only the designer, but the motivator of re-introduction of the range to the market place. Upon George's death, his son Charles took over the manufacture for me and, happily, his abilities are up to the job, and probably better than Georges ever were, I am so pleased that I could find someone of his ability"

Rick

legally and at tax time, they may be 2 separate companies, but, tell me Bill Feil, you deny the truth of these statements made to me by Leonard Gregory?

"I decided to re-design the Hadcock range"

which led to this statement:

"This is why everything goes through me, I am the sole distributor of the Hadcock range, which I feel is my due being not only the designer, but the motivator of re-introduction of the range to the market place"

These are facts..... which is easy to know when you have a Hadcock/Cartridgman item. Customer service is only through Leonard Gregory for all Hadcock business.. there is NO "official" contact for the Hadcock tonearm company, nor Mr. Hadcock.

If I am wrong, explain it.. but don't just make statements that I'm wrong because you the US distributor..if you remember.. you sent me to deal with Leonard Gregory for anything pertaining to my tonearm.

I'm done, this is silly to continue, when Bill Feil would rather be rude and insulting instead of truthful.

Rick

Raul,
Yes, I of course know that these are both "separate" companies.
What I was getting at, was that the only way Hadcock can sell his tonearm is through Leonard Gregory, so these "separate" companies are tied together, as Hadcock cannot sell his tonearms without Leonard Gregory. And the fact that Leonard Gregory claims to have "re-designed" the Hadcock tonearm line..both of these tie them together, as one cannot do business without the other.
And yes, I had a very bad Customer Service related experience with both Bill Feil and Leonard Gregory, I found Mr. Gregory to be quite rude, errogant and poor customer relation skills.
I will never buy a product again (which I had bought the top of the line, 242SE Super Silver arm, the Music Maker III cartridge, and a bunch of accessories..
I was at first impressed with the help by Mr. Feil, but then found once the "$$" changed hands, all that ended. I would have bought much, much more from Bill Feil, but after the experience I went through, I HIGHLY suggest never to buy a product from Leonard Gregory.
I really wish my thread had not turned out like this.. I really wanted some help on deciding which arm to keep...

I wish everyone a great day...

Yes...his son has now having the arms built, but Mr. Gregory controls the sales and $$ side of the Hadcock company.

Rick