In this case if I considered the SAE 1000LT surplus to my needs I would sell the SAE 1000LT to get my money back, no more. In this case I would not want to make a profit. If I decided to sell it a year later, all bets are off.
I wish that this worked for mine. The pins on mine all look pretty nasty even after cleaning with alcohol and deoxit.
I believe these pins are gold plated, so perhaps try (carefully) using acetone on a Q-tip. If they are gold, they won't corrode, but you might need an aggressive cleaner like acetone to get the crud off. Just please be careful and don't get the cleaner on anything but the pins.
I don't know what the specifics of the gold plating on these carts is, but I do know that they bothered to gold plate them in the first place because of corrosion resistance and stability. Now it is always possible that the gold plating broke down by being in close proximity to deteriorating foam rubber packing cells. But I would bet that given the hundreds of carts in this lot which were all packed identically in the same deteriorating foam, that if there is corrosion, it is an outlier. Really, I would try acetone since that will remove just about anything , but again, be careful to keep it only on the pins. In my experience, DeOxit isn't all that aggressive as a cleaner.
That's the tried and true solution. It might be difficult getting it down into the pins, but worth a try.
This example is fine but quite different. You allowed the market to determine the value by starting at $1. Since you had little in it and a highly good reason to believe you would make more than invested, that was a safe bet. No shame and nothing to feel guilty about if you had made $1000 in a situation like that, I'd be the first to congratulate you. No one is calling profit a dirty word, but ways of achieving it are all over the map, anywhere from fair to unscrupulous. That distinction was the point of my earlier comment. No big deal really, it's just interesting how some will find ways to defend what works for them while others will scrutinize the indefensible. We all find some place within that "Econ 101" spectrum to draw the line within our capitalistic "everything is done under the sun"
My LT had a very slight bit of oxidation and the E was fine. I cleaned both off as a matter of course before connecting to a headshell and a bit of alcohol on a paper towel followed by DeOxit made them as bright as could be. Since these are metal pins, a light rub with emery cloth followed by wiping clean with DeOxit should work well with more stubborn tarnishing.
BTW- finally got the cartridge screw nuts to try the original Ortofon head shell vs the SME clone head shell. Some bass notes had a slight distortion, and the wind instruments has a slight distortion only during the decay of the instrument with the SAE clone. It went away with the stock Ortofon AS-212 head shell- go figure. SAE clone is 7 grams vs Ortofon 11 grams. Some stated the SAE 1000LT likes some extra head shell weight, but all are tracking in-between 1.8 and 2 grams.
Here is an SAE 1000LT comparison: Sumiko Amethyst: very smooth and a bit dark sounding with recessed treble (basically the opposite of the VM540ML). Line contact stylus that plays everything with zero IGD and amazing tracking ability (on par with your AT). Denon DL-160: long discontinued. Very punchy and dynamic with wonderful bass. Treble can be edgy if you load it at 47k ohms. Elliptical stylus and average tracking ability. Goldring Eroica HX: I own the LX, not the HX, but the LX is higher in compliance than the older L and H versions and tracks everything with ease (it passed the 80um band on my HiFi News Test Record). It has the extra dynamics typical of good MCs but it's tuned to have a slightly distant presentation, with voices and instruments taking a back seat. It has the classic British lift in the upper mids. Hana EH: it's the elliptical version of your SAE 1000LT (generators are identical). Why downgrade? I just mounted my SAE 1000LT today. Sounds very promising, and technically better than the Amethyst or the DL-160. And more neutral than the Eroica. As to what is best for you, only you can say... Good luck!
Bought an E. Anyone want to sell or trade an LT? I have a bunch of different cartridges. Missed the boat, but always curious to try different things.
.4 x .7 happens to be my favorite elliptical size. Ignoring budget, bonded, awful feux elliptical .4 x .7 tips for the moment, consider that Nagaoka uses this size in its current MP range. And the Stanton 681SE nude .4. x .7 was well known in high quality FM broadcasting. In use, a .4 x .7 tip has a similar contact area to a good conical but fits in the groove better so doesnt suffer from pinch effect and the THD that results from the additional vertical movement of a conical trying to navigate through spaces it doesnt always fit into. The best (and low mass) .4 x .7 tips will give a perceptibly clean sound across the entire record with low surface noise, little to no IGD on most discs, details and ambiance very close to sharper elliptical tips, and due to the larger contact surface, is self aligning if set up less than perfectly. Pat
