New cartridge vs. Re-tipped

@dwette - I have dealt with VAS and I always found him very honest. He told me my Transfiguration cart had a fair amount of life left in it and his prices have always been reasonable with fast turnaround. I have never seen a remotely negative post about him here either. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to see the cart before an estimate because a lot could be wrong that you may not know about. Of course, if you’re getting a bad vibe, deal with someone else. Soundsmith is great, but I had a very long turnaround with them. 

Steve Leung at VAS has done good work for me on two occasions.

I’m still trying to decide what to do with my broken Koetsu Rosewood but sending it to Joseph Long (groovetickler) is at the top of my list. A couple people have said to me elsewhere not to use VAS. When I inquired with VAS he said I had to send it there first just to get an estimate. That’s a non-starter for me, and seems like a questionable tactic to me for getting new business. I’m in no rush to deal with it.

@dwette  When it comes time for me to have a Koetsu done by 3rd party (I’ve had Koetsu Japan rebuilds a few times in the past), Joseph Long is the ONLY state-side guy I’m considering. He shows his work results on his Instagram and it's pretty impressive in quality and quantity. Then there are a couple more guys worldwide I’d trust enough to take a shot on. 

@chayro @dogberry @mulveling 

Thanks for your feedback. I’ve only heard great things about Joseph Long and mixed reviews about VAS, so I’ll stand with what I said before in considering the former and avoiding the latter.

I've also heard good things about Allclear Audio, but I'd like to avoid shipping to/from Australia.

Hi everyone, can somebody here please remind me of the Asian gentleman I think in Washington state that rebuilds/retips cartridges? I have an old Denon 103 that needs work.

many thanks!

Dave

You are thinking of Andy Kim, who is now in California.  I've had him retip a few carts, including a Zu Denon DL-103.  It was damaged when I bought it (came with a turntable I bought), so I don't know how much better it was than when stock, but after he worked his magic, it's very close to my Dyanvector XV-1S and van den Hul Crimson XGW Stradivarius, both of which retail for over $5K.  His turnaround is very fast also.