Cartridge Damaged, need advise on getting new

I had Soundsmith do 3 retips for me over the years. I wouldn’t expect them to be better. Maybe as good as original if your lucky. But all three i had done sounded different than original. I even did a direct comparison between a retip emt tsd15 and a brand new one. Very different sounding. I think some people send in worn cartridges and get them back sounding better because they sounded bad at the time of being worn out. I don’t feel any retip is as good as original. Unless maybe the denon 103 people seem to like to retip. No experience with this. I do recommend SoundSmith though. Their work is excellent and both the Peters are great to do business with. For $450 they will make your worthless broken cartridge into something quite decent. If you don’t like it you can probably sell it for more than that.

Too add: years ago someone visiting broke my transfiguration temper w. I listened to cd’s for a year because i couldn’t afford a new one. SoundSmith to the rescue. For $450 I was back listening to my system. Just kidding. I never did actually listened to many cd’s.  

I will say again that i think retipping is a good choice if finances are an issue. I’d rather have a top cartridge retipped than a brand new inferior cartridge. @chakster 
did you read my last post? I had an emt tsd 15 retipped by Soundsmith. Im actually listening to it at the moment. When i got it back i compared it directly to a new one with about 20 hours on it. Both were very different sounding. The original was definitely better though. But the retip didn’t cost much and for 1/4 the cost it’s money well spent. It’s good too. Just not as good as the original. This whole retipping thing should be looked at for what it is. Cost effective. I see people trying to sell retips for high prices, thinking they are like new again. They are not. A retip is just a retip. 

I put this in the wrong thread earlier.

I should correct something. When i commented earlier i meant new cantilevered not retip. SoundSmith calls themselves retippers but mostly as far as i know they prefer to recantilever. All three that i had done were recantilevered. I don't actually hear much about just retipping. Correct me if this is wrong.
@chakster