Sumiko Blackbird Soundsmith Rebuild Level?

That is a tough one as the original has an elliptical stylus mounted on a boron cantilever. The SS ones are mounted on ruby and the $250 & $350 ones are line contact of one sort or another. Good stuff I'm sure but may sound different than stock. When I sent Peter mine with a bent cantilever he was able to straighten it; thereby passing through the horns of that dilemma. I'm listening to it as I type this. I was going to rely on his recommendations.

I agree with Wntrmute2....let Soundsmith make the decision.

Thanks all, I wanted to get as close to the original as possible.

I called Sumiko who told me they can only offer $200 in a kind of trade-in program....they don't do rebuilds nor do they have a program where they might take in a damaged one and give you a better break on the new replacement. All the company does now is work with their "dealer network," which means that's where you get the $200 off but even at that, I'd be spending close to $2,000 ($1,100 + $900) by the time I'm done.... Anyone know of a service that uses the elipticals and boron?

Anovak ... check some of the comments on the Andy Kim (Chong) thread I started some time back. Many folks have good things to say about Andy.

Try contacting Andy at www.phonocartridgeretipping.com.

He may be able to help you. I have used his services before, not for your specific problem though, and been very happy with his work and the pricing.