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KOETSU ROSEWOOD DILEMMA

I have an old Koetsu Rosewood Longbody from long ago. It came with a Linn LP12/Ittok, so cost nothing. But it had no stylus, and I’ve never heard it.

The stylus was sheared clean off. Some colorful fuzz was left at the scene, and forensics showed it to be red and green woolen fibers. The culprit was a clumsy audiophile in a red-and-green sweater (Christmas colors, so maybe too much egg-nog) who snagged the diamond in his cuff.

Despite the violence, the cantilever is perfect — straight and true, with a beautifully beveled flat tip for seating the stone and setting SRA. It’s not hole-through, so probably was an adhesive-only bond. Coils are fine. Suspension seems fine — sitting on a stationary LP at the right VTF, it rides just right, not low nor high — and compliance feels in the right ballpark. All in all it’s very clean, and produces sound. There’s no erosion of the gold plating, so it may have been newish. 91447 is carved into the aluminum, and an “S” — does S indicate a “signature” model?

Is it worth retipping?

As you can see, I know nothing, so any suggestions are welcome, even negative ones, especially from those who know the cartridge, and have experience with retipping.

My intention now is to keep the boron rod and just add a diamond — it should be quite close to the original sound — but I’m open to change. Installing a new cantilever+stylus is easier and less expensive, but the resulting sound is an unknown, maybe better, maybe not, maybe not Koetsu. Why have a Koetsu if it doesn’t sound like one?

Stylus-type is an issue too. I can’t even find what the original stylus was, I believe a type of hyper-elliptical. I think a fancier cut would add detail but not alter the sound otherwise, but might be wrong.

So — as I know nothing, and my few ideas may be wrong, guidance is needed.


bimasta
bimasta's avatar
bimasta OP
158 posts
 
The retip is more expensive than swapping out the cantilever but worth it.
"Retip" is a misnomer. Replacing tip-only is more difficult, that’s why "retippers" avoid it. As I understand it, "swapping out the cantilever" means a complete new cantilever+stylus, and it just inserts into a small tube, with plenty of surface area for the glue-bond. Retipping (stone only) needs far more precision, and offers a smaller, more precarious area for the adhesive — much easier to fail, either on the bench, or later while playing, which means an angry customer.
Lord knows one has plenty of waiting time before SS gets to your repair.
I called SS, left voicemail, followed with two emails. Took six weeks for a reply, a callback by an unnamed someone who told me to call back in another six weeks. Andy Kim took my call instantly and we talked for over 20 minutes. He wanted to do the cantilever thing, not a retip. I had other cartridges to discuss (Accuphase, Fidelity Research, Supex) so we just moved on. A pleasure to deal with.

SS might be a pleasure to deal with but they never gave me the chance.
karl_desch's avatar
karl_desch
207 posts
 
Its true that if you want SS to perform your repair you have to be patient. I'm on week 13 (but who's countinng?) since they received my cartridge and have not heard a thing.  However, they indicate that non SS cart repairs average 8-14 weeks wait time. I have a feeling the best way to communicate is through email and their own repair tracking system. In the meantime I enjoy my other carts, which include a SS Zephyr MIMC. I wonder what the turn around time is for a rebuild with Koetsu Japan? 
tkr
55 posts
 
I had a Koetsu Urushi rebuilt some years ago by Koetsu. If I remember correctly, it took around 2 months.
irish_tim
50 posts
 
Best to communicate with SS through their repair tracking system.  I always got very quick responses when communicating that way, not so with e-mail.  They did excellent work replacing the cantilever and tip on my  Cardas Myrtlewood, took just 2 weeks.  I spoke to the gentleman who does this work (forgot his name) on the phone 3x, it was no problem at all getting in touch with him.  I expressed to him my great surprise that he did the work so quickly and he explained that once he takes these apart to assess damage the parts are so minute that he usually repairs them right away because it's much easier than going back to the cartridge later.  $450 for the complete rebuild, a very fair price.   
viridian's avatar
viridian
4,184 posts
 
I have had Koetsu and Kiseki, among other artisanal cartridges and would not hesitate to send one to Andy or Peter. However, Peter commonly uses the European styli. Van den Hul, Gyger, etc.

If you go this route IMHO I would specify that the retipper use a Japanese stylus. Ogura Vital would probably be dead close to the original, but I wouldn’t hesitate to use the better Namiki styli either.

Its just a machine, no magic involved and no reason to take out a 2nd on your house IMHO.
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