Cartridge & Headshell for SL1210 M5G $399

I started out with the stock Technics SL1210MG5's headshell. Why not, it comes with your table right? Get comfortable with the stock unit, then move up to the Sumiko. Johnnyb53 is correct, the azimuth alignment on the Sumiko sure puts that headshell out front as the most flexible.

I found the finger lift on the Sumiko when mounted with the cartridge and headshell causes quite a bit of distortion. When I removed the finger lift from the assembly, the distortion went away. So now I do not use the finger lift when mounting the cartridge to the Sumiko headshell.

Tvad, thank you for that tip, I will double check my level settings.

I think Nagaoka is the manufacturer for the headshell you are talking about. I just opened up a Nagaoka MP-50 today, and reading their documentation was interesting. They are an OEM manufacturer as well for 'other' companies providing various components and such for cartridges. Further reading (so rare to find a cartridge with any substantial documentation no?) the MP-50 comes in another version called the MP-50H, the 'H' being the supplied headshell for this cartridge. The diagram showing the headshell is the same as the Sumiko/ZuPreme in question.

So there is one possible answer to your theory of Sumiko and ZuPreme sourcing from a 3rd party - Nagaoka. It was Raul's posting on MM cartridges that motivated me to try a Nagaoka, I had no idea what I'm in for, but I'm sure it will be good.