SAE MC Cartridges (NOS) On eBAY

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Ampexed, Oct 28, 2022.

  1. allied333

    allied333 Audiophile

    Location:
    nowhere
    Wow. Perhaps scrape the cantilever and pins with an Exacto knife. You would have to have super vision to clean the cantilever and be so careful with applying too much pressure that could bend it. Perhaps a chemical would clean the cantilever.
     
  2. John Landreth

    John Landreth Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Ohio
     
  3. John Landreth

    John Landreth Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Ohio
    The one that i just received has something similar on the pins. I was hoping
     
  4. John Landreth

    John Landreth Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Ohio
    Hoping it was a protective coating from the factory but neither isopropyl alcohol or rubbing with a pencil eraser had and effect
     
  5. allied333

    allied333 Audiophile

    Location:
    nowhere
    An Exacto knife will clean the pins by scraping it. Tedious work.
     
  6. JP

    JP Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookfield, CT
    I believe the point is that the material has corroded away in many places.
     
  7. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    No amount of cleaning or scraping is going to fix micro-perforations in the cantilever.
     
  8. John Landreth

    John Landreth Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Ohio
    I'll likely see if i can arrange to return it.
     
    patient_ot likes this.
  9. utahusker

    utahusker Senior Member

    No doubt, that’s unacceptable.
     
  10. JP

    JP Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookfield, CT
    These are representative of the Es and LTs I have. The crystalline growth is a royal pain to get off. I've had more than a few 30+ year old NOS cartridges where I had to scrape the tip of the stylus under a microscope to clear it so it'd sit in the groove right. The first play of my XL88-D I thought it was a dud, but that was the issue. Thankfully!

    Excuse the motion blur - it's not a rig that's conducive to "casual" shots.

    [​IMG]
    Full size: Dropbox - R5__3408.JPG - Simplify your life

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    [​IMG]
    Full size: Dropbox - R5__3419.JPG - Simplify your life

    [​IMG]
     
    Ampexed and John Landreth like this.
  11. 33na3rd

    33na3rd Forum Resident

    Location:
    SW Washington, USA
    Is it fair to assume that if the pins look good, the cantilever should be fine too?
     
  12. JP

    JP Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookfield, CT
    Maybe not a rule, but a really good indication.
     
    33na3rd likes this.
  13. ubiknik

    ubiknik Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago, IL USA
    At least your LT looks not too bad.
     
  14. 33na3rd

    33na3rd Forum Resident

    Location:
    SW Washington, USA
    Thank you!
     
  15. Frank Bisby

    Frank Bisby Forum Resident

    Mine came with a dead left channel and the side that was working didn’t sound nearly as good at the 2m blue it replaced.
     
    John Landreth likes this.
  16. JP

    JP Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brookfield, CT
    The E isn’t bad enough to bother me either. It’ll clean up well enough and I don’t any spots that are eaten away. I’d prefer it to not be much worse, that’s for sure.
     
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  17. snorker

    snorker Big Daddy

    Based on what @needlestein and others have reported here, I’m glad I ended up with a relatively clean and fully functional LT. Mine looked a bit cleaner than the one @JP photographed above. The cantilever was free of any corrosion, and while the pins were not perfect they were decent enough.

    There’s always some risk with cartridges that are 40+ years old, but I’ve had good luck. I’ve yet to come across a Stanton or Pickering with a bad suspension or dead channel. I’ve heard anecdotally that some Shure V15 suspensions hardened and were unusable. How these things were stored will certainly play a part.
     
  18. woodpigeon

    woodpigeon Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Zealand
    The two that turned up here were spotless. Perhaps some were stored in a damp location?
     
    cnolanh and inzite like this.
  19. allied333

    allied333 Audiophile

    Location:
    nowhere
    My two SAE 1000LT were spotless as well.
     
    cnolanh likes this.
  20. inzite

    inzite Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    My E and LT that were ordered and shipped out 2-3 weeks ago were perfectly like new. Waiting for my 2nd E that was one of the final orders on ebay.
     
  21. ngower

    ngower Forum Resident

    Location:
    Maine
    I cancelled my order to go in a different direction, so there might be another popping up
     
  22. Ampexed

    Ampexed Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Santa Fe, NM
    They were all stored identically in a large box, with maybe 25 to a box in smaller boxes with foam rubber cells. The only thing in direct contact with the carts was the foam rubber which had deteriorated somewhat over the decades and became crumbly and somewhat gooey. Personally, I wouldn't mess with trying to clean anything except for the signal pins on the back.
     
  23. inzite

    inzite Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    I literally just went to look at the LT I have that isn't mounted right now and it looks as new as my nagaoka except it's like 30 yrs older maybe. I just brushed the E and LT with my camera carbon fibre brush upon unboxing them and they def look like it was made yesterday. Fingers crossed for the other E I ordered fairly recently.
     
  24. needlestein

    needlestein GrooveTickler

    Location:
    New England
    It’s weird how just the rear millimeter and a half of the pins corroded—and the pins themselves don’t seem to have corroded much as they clean up fine. Definitely less shiny after the cleanup as my LTs which were all flawless like the day they were made. Too bad about the cantilevers on the Es. Still happy enough to have them that I will keep them.
     
  25. cinellipro

    cinellipro New Member

    Location:
    Florida
    Thanks all for the recommendations. Tested on my RadioShack MM and all is good. Since it's a gift, waiting on a set of headshell screws to arrive and will be placing the cartridge in a presentation box, from one of my previous cartridges that has the two headshell holes to so it's a presentable gift. Why? because the misses said so. I'll break the news that the cartridge could be 40 years old after it's installed.

    Will report back on the sonic attributes after it's connected.

    Woohoo.
     

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