Garrott Brothers Cartridges

I've been curious about the new production of the Garrott Brothers carts - can anyone shed any light on these? As many know, the originals created during their lifetime have quite a cult following. Can anyone compare these new ones to the originals? Are they just re-brandings with their name on it?

http://garrottbrothers.com/

Thanks!

 

They look suspiciously like old Ortofon carts...

 

Interesting! I've not heard of them before.

 

Kinda looks like a Sumiko Pearl as well. I see that body fit with different styli here and there.

 

That cartridge body reminds me of a Shelter 201 / Sumiko Pearl.

 

Actually the body was originally based on the A&R cartridge.

I owned the original P77 and met the Garrott brothers on a number of occasions, and corresponded with John (real handwritten letters) a number of times.

May they both Rest in Peace.

 

I sure hope none of them sound like a Pearl!

 

Back in their day, when the brothers were alive, their cartridges and retipping service had a great reputation. If you don't know the story about the brothers, this is a brief summary:

http://www.whetstoneaudio.com/?p=5718

 

I first met them in Black Rock in Melbourne, where they serviced the Supex cartridge I had at the time. Immaculate service and Brian took the time to show me his work with much pride. Interestingly enough, they hated the Denon 103 and said there was nothing they could do to make that cartridge sound good and championed the Decca London Gold. Brian even made his own Decca type cartridge for their own enjoyment - it was a headshell and cartridge combination that was optimised for the then popular SME type mounting. No-one could criticise either the quality of their work nor the obvious improvements in sound that their work achieved. They serviced or modified Supex SD-900 E Super, Stax CPY, Breuer Type 80, Kiseki Blue and Dynavector 17D2 cartridges for me and not a single one was anything less than an astounding improvement in cartridges that all had less than 1000 hours usage.
It was a great loss to the world when I heard of their deaths years later. I think it was Tivoli HiFi that bought the name of the Garrott Brothers business and continues to this day. I presume someone was trained up to do the work, as well as build their moving magnet and moving coil cartridges.

 

Makes me want to try a Decca cartridge, since I always hated the DL-103 as well.

 

http://garrottbrothers.com
The Garrotts used to modify Decca London Gold cartridges to elevate them into something really spectacular. Drop them a line and see if "they" - the replacement company - still do work like that.

 

They used to come to the hifi shows and would bring their microscope and punters could bring in their cartridge and they would look at it and give you an assessment. I have to say this, and it is not simply in hindsight based on the tragedy, but there was a palpable, super strong vibe between the two brothers when I was in the room. They really were super connected and you could feel it.

 

Their cartridges look pretty good!