Miyajima MADAKE experience

@wynpalmer4 I know, but that case was more about Andy's personality, so for me he's no longer in the list of retippers. 

Anyway, i think it's not a good idea to service Madake at anyone else, but the Miyajima Lab. And it's sad that Miyajima's service is less affordable now.  

As for the lower model i'm sure that changing one aluminum cantilever to another is not exactly the same. Alumimum cantilevers are different too. The best about Miyajima was the cheap factory retipping/refurbishing service, it was possible only several years go, but not today. 

Oddly enough, my interactions with Andy, which have not been extensive, have been very pleasant and professional. Perhaps he's worked on his "bed side manner". Yes, they're not exactly the same stock, but darn close and yes, its not a shibata but a linear contact stylus but my listening/measurements are very similar to a stock Miyajima with the cantilever resonance/amplitude being in the same place, more or less, and with the same amplitude, and the alignment of the device is spot on so he managed to put it together without disturbing the damping elements or the coils, which is not an easy thing to do. The Shilabe has  a pronounced cantilever resonance peak in the high sonic/low ultrasonic range, the Kansui is much less pronounced, and the Madake is between the two- although my second device measures/sounds peakier than the first. These choices were made by Miyajima-san and help "tailor" the sound of his cartridges.
So, if you don't want to cough up the big bucks for at least the Shilabe, and I would expect the Kansui too, Andy does a fine job.

I wouldn't personally send a Madake to either NWA or Expert.
Ana Mighty Sound in France seem to be the high-end retip specialists in Europe these days.

I  wouldn't send a Madake to any of them if you expect to get a cantilever made of aluminum and madake which is what miyajima-san claims is the reason for the sound. 

@wynpalmer4 
Ana did a (part)bamboo cantilvered retip for me of a Premium BE 1.0 mono and to my ears it out performs my standard Zero 0.7, especially since I started using the MIyahia ETR-Mono SUT (which is a must with these cartridges - it's out and out stunning).