The piece was very pliable, and I don't know how I might have gotten it back in had the ovals been closed, since I had to use a pin to push the open ends around the ceramic bars. I did see a little ceramic dust come off on the pin when I scratched the bar by accident, but I just finished listening t...

By way of an update, I did in fact manage to slip the retainer back in (after about 30 minutes of effort) and the needle in over it. Your input saved me $75-100 for a new catridge!

Now I just have to find some de-oxidizer for those scratchy pots!

Thanks again!!

Awesome!! This is really helpful!! I appreciate it!

Thanks for the info and pic. So can I just put this back in? The same piece? OR is this now damaged and I need a new one?

Hi all, Newbie here. So after it being in my family for 44 years (20+ of that in storage), I bought replacement needles for my Astrosonic and went to install them last night. When I did, a small piece of plastic popped out when I took the needle out. Since I couldn't see the underside of the cartrid...