thru my own stupidity i accidentally ripped the cantilever and stylus out of my koetsu rosewood signature. sending it back to koetsu is cost prohibited for me.
I responded in post #2 above with suggestions, but this response is more opinion and anecdote than solution.
I have sent three cartridges in for cantilever replacement over the years. My personal experience is that they do not sound the same as the original. As was pointed out by someone else in this thread, it will not be a Koetsu Rosewood Signature when it comes back. And if you really “ripped” it off the cartridge, the repaired suspension is unlikely to ride exactly the same as the original.
At this point in my life, I would not choose the repair route. I would try to work a trade, either through Koetsu, or through a dealer who trades generously. Cartridges usually have pretty good margins, so a dealer like HiFiHeaven might be worth a check.
FWIW, these are the three I sent for repairs.
1. Grado Signature. I got this as a freebie from a fellow whose toddler had broken it. He threw it in when I bought the tonearm on which it was still mounted. He was abandoning vinyl because of the toddler. I sent it to Sound-Smith. I sold it with full disclosure after checking it out on its return.
2. VAS (I don’t recall the model). I’d bought it from a famous guy who owned an audiophile company. It arrived skewed off axis as though it had been mounted on a unipivot with no anti skate. (This was in fact the exact case). I sent it to Steve Leung at VAS. He fixed it for free. I sold it on its return.
3. Linn Krystal. I’d bought it at retail from a Linn dealer. It collapsed in the middle of a side while playing a record after less than 200 hours. The Krystal was a new model. Several failed by this method. Linn would not honor the warranty*. My dealer was aware of several customers whose Krystals had failed. Linn wouldn’t budge, and he was not big enough to eat it himself. I sent it to Sound-Smith and sold it with full disclosure on its return.
This problem (the ease with which a cartridge can fail) is a strong reason for not getting into vinyl if you’re new to the high end. I am currently using cartridges with silly msrps, and I am extremely careful with them. No toddlers, guests, or animals allowed near my TTs. No alcohol when doing any work on my TTs. There’s no other component that is as fragile as a cartridge, nor as expensive per pound.
* Linn claimed, without inspecting mine, that the failures were due to the customer using a liquid stylus cleaner, like SPT. They claimed the liquid had wicked up the hollow cantilever and corroded the fixing. The result was a collapse with no obvious event to cause it. Linn had not warned against using any liquids at that time. I had not used liquid cleaners. Didn’t matter to them. They did not want to see it. They showed no “good will”.
Their response to the Krystal failures was to issue a warning to their dealers so that the dealers could warn their customers. This is a factor in why so many people hate Linn. They do their best to avoid their customers. The dealer is the only interface to the installed base.