First the bad: I was doing some spring cleaning to the system this morning, anyway, I was just finishing with the turntable and was putting the belts on the pully, the belt slipped from my fingers and, I kid you not, ended up hitting the one thing you don’t want an O-ring with inertia behind it to hit. Yup the cantilever on my Benz Micro SL cartridge, snapped it off clean. Yes, I know I should have had a guard in place
Once I got done telling my self how stupid I was, I decided the show must go on and mounted my DV XXII MKII this is where the good news comes in. For whatever reason, the stars aligned and the mounting and alignment went super smooth, almost like I new what I was doing 
It seems I got everything right and this thing is tracking perfectly and sounding the best I have heard it sound, more dynamics, bass, detail, all the good stuff.
So, in the end, expensive lesson learned ($700 re-tip) and the best cartridge set-up I have ever performed. Live and learn, I suppose
Best,
-JP
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Thanks for sharing that. I bet many of us are guilty not always putting the guard back in place when we are done playing records. Therefore, we can all learn from your unfortunate oversight.
Sounds like you already had a back up cart in your possession. I recently calculated my cart’s remaining life is likely less than 50%. I have already been thinking about a possible replacement and trying something different. Probably better to be prepared for that day when needed. Especially, if it comes sooner that expected.
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I had a very similar accident last year with my Ortofon Quitet Black S, had a nervous tick as I was cleaning the stylus with some abrasive paper (Linn Stylus paper), and unfortunately just went straight into the cantilever and snapped it clean off.
Thankfully Ortofon do an offer where they’ll “buy” back your broken cartridge for 25% of it’s value which goes towards a replacement (so long as it’s equal or higher model), so actually, a replacement isn’t going to shatter the bank.
It’s just been crazy and have had far too many financial commitments recently to be able to do it just yet, but aiming to within a couple of months.
I’m really pleased your replacement is proving so capable, that’s a good turn around of bad luck for you.
If only there were stylus guards available for the Benz line. I have a Glider and that long cantilever is quite vulnerable to say the least.
They do make ebony-wood or panzerholz bodies for the Gliders that offer some protection, I do have one, but it wasnt installed on the cart at the time of the incident
But you are right, that cantilever is super exposed on the Gliders
Best,
-JP
I’m glad you’re taking it as well as you are, but what choice do we have. It’s just ironic that errors, mistakes and missteps with dollar values attached always seem 3X their actual cost. Grrrrrr…
