Grace Level ll

@lewm  i hope you can find one in the USA, i have a sticker on my own Level II, Sumiko was their distributor in the states back in the day. The original Grace is always what i'm looking for, not the refurbished ones, not sure what is the compliance of re-cantilevered one you got from SS, but most likely not so high as the original. I think you don't have to worry when you buy factory sealed NOS sample. 

Compliance does not change much, unless you also change the suspension elements, which should not be necessary in most cases and was not done in the case of my Ruby.  On the contrary, I would think that an NOS OEM cartridge built in the 80s is more likely to suffer from stiffening of the suspension due to both elapsed time and lack of use, compared to a cartridge that has at least been used once in a while over that same period of time.  Anyway, I do have it both ways (one with original cantilever and stylus vs another re-tipped by SS), and the latter version is superior.

Just picked up a used Grace II RC but I think it maybe the Beryllium cantilever version as the plastic stylus holder is translucent brown.

It will be interesting to see how it compares to my Grace F9 Ruby.

@ateal some info about Level II RC is here  
maybe you can add some pictures later

Thanks Chakster. It is still in Japan but will be with me in a couple of weeks. Do you know what color each stylus was. I know that Red is Ruby cantilever, Orange is Boron, Green is Aluminum, Brown is Beryllium or Ceramic????