Fidelity Research FR-7 Repair

letch, The problem with Russian people is their ''soul''. So sensitive
that they always complain. Our chakster is complaining about the
prices of new cartridges but owns an collection which must be
in contradiction with his ''income''. Curious expression if one has
no job. As paradoxical is his advise to buy ''an perfect FR-7fz'' 
instead of fixing your ''common'' FR-7 . He wisely deed not mention
possible price for ''FZ'' but also ''forget'' to mention where such
''perfect animal '' can be find. You should listen to his older brother
who knows better. FR-7 is excellent cart and certainly deserves
retip.

Well, I did think solicit possible advice on moving on up. However, looking at ebay, the cheapest FR-7fz is $1500. The problem for me is that I don't know how to find a "perfectly working" Fr-7fz. I'm a photographer and believe me, every piece of photo equipment on ebay is "mint" or "near mint" even when you can see scratches, dings and paint worn off. So, I take it with a grain of salt when people say whatever they say to make the sale. My concern is that for me, that's a lot of money and that I end up with a cartridge that needs repair.

In the current state of the world today, it makes more sense for me to send it in to Soundsmith. So, I pay out $500 to fix it up. The cartridge is a known quantity to me and I'm back in business. Then, looking down the road, I can start thinking about upgrading. In this case case I've gotten a tip from chakster that the "fz" is better than the "f" so I don't waste my time with an incremental upgrade.

Thanks everyone! I'll report back after I get the cartridge back. I'm hoping to get it out tomorrow.

I took some nice images of Ikeda aluminum cantilever, this is my ex FR PMC-3 on macro lens. And even closer here. I'm pretty sure you can stay with aluminum cantilever to save money, just make sure to ask for the best stylus shape. 

I asked local dealer to come over with "fz" to compare with my "f", on the first record it was obvious that "fz" is better, but "f" is also pretty good. Later i sold my "f" locally and still happy with "fz". Then i bought Miyabi MCA for funny price and this is one of my favorite. 

The price you have mentioned for "fz" is a fair price. 

Mine was repaired by Holistic Audio in Holland
https://www.holisticaudio.nl/ 
Can wholeheartedly recommend

Another obvious reason to choose Soundsmith and Van Den Hul over others is that they are both designers and manufacturers of world class cartridges. I probably missed someone here though. The others are just repair shops.