Cartridges and old man

Mordante, with all due respect I doubt that you are the arbiter of what is normal. Of those cartridge makers that you have mentioned, only one has passed and his family continues the business. My math is not good, but I believe that represents 100% of the dead cartridge makers that you mentioned having their businesses carried on by their families. But I do agree with you that this will not always be the case.

Looking at the matter in greater depth, many of the artisinal cartridge makers either worked for other companies, Sugano being a good example when he worked at Supex (interestingly I believe that Sugano worked the majority of his career for Toyota), or were watch makers, Andre at Blue Mantis, Ernst Benz and Joe Grado come immediately to mind, but there are more.

I imagine that there is going to be less of a call for watch makers in the future as watches become less prevalent in our society. That probably does not bode well for the future of artisinal cartridge making, though the maker of the Thales pantograph tonearms is a watchmaker and is, relatively speaking, younger.

Then again those making very fine high end cartridges in a corporate environment, such as Ortofon and Clearaudio, seem to be prospering and expanding their business.

Singreen, I appreciate valuable info on Strads, however my intention was different. Some will pass the skill to the next generation some will bury them with their bodies when pass away.

Not that it is material to my post, but if memory serves Andre Hanekom may have been a dentist, not a watchmaker - seemingly similar in some ways however.

I believe that Ikeda apprenticed with another cartridge maker before starting Fidelity Research.

Mordante, it is a LOT more normal in Japan to want to continue the family trade than here.
The USA is a far outliner on individualism as families are
not helpful to our "divide and conquer" system of government.

..that's why what this country needs is more skilled craftsmen/women, not college grads who can't find jobs.