Electro-Voice 275 cartridge -- strap question

I've purchased this Electro-Voice 275 cartridge however it didn't come with the metal strap and my understanding is that it's practically impossible to find with the strap.

Does anyone know how to transfer this strap from the old cartridge to the new one? The strap appears to be attached to the old cartridge using the same hole that the clip that keeps the stylus in is in using some type of eyelet fastener.

I'm not sure how to remove this fastener and/or replace it on the new cartridge. Any help would be appreciated.

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(Moderator's Note: This post was moved from its original location -- "Where to Buy a Needle/Stylus" -- so more people would see it.)

That's strange...it should have come with that strap...no assembly required. --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

Moxy,
Looking at Bobby's pix--that "strap" is a "hum shield", and the fastener is a (brass ?) rivet. It would be impossible to remove the rivet, without destroying it, and--and doing so, might damage the cart. too. Finding a new rivet would also be difficult, besides it is very hard to install a new rivet without the correct "jig". So, IMHO, you have two choices--one, try using the new cart. as is. If there is no "hum", you have it made--If it hums, and you or a friend is REAL GOOD with a soldering iron, attach a bit of tone-arm wire to that rivet, and attach the other end where the strap now goes. Caution, "overheating" the cart is NOT good ! Good luck, Ron Rich

That strap is also a mount I believe. Without it how will Ron mount the new cart? If it were me I would remove the strap from the defective cart and try to pin or screw it to the rivet of the new cart. A pin might require epoxy to hold it in or a # 2 ( I am guessing the size) machine screw with a nut right through the strap & rivet. Then adjust VTF to suit.

Yes the strap is a mounting bracket.

I purchased this cart from carols needles off e-bay. After looking around I found out that the cart doesn't typically come with the strap and is extremely hard to find with the strap.

I did later find that turntableneedles.com sales them and has a way to transfer the strap.
http://www.turntableneedles.com/Pfansti ... _1742.html
I e-mailed them asking about the process but it seems it's some sort of uber secret process they would rather not share.

removing and replacing the bracket (strap) is what we do
for free with the purchase of the cartridge. yes we have process
we developed so the cartridge is not broken.

I purchased from e-bay with out looking much at the way the strap was attached to my old cart. For some reason I was thinking it just screwed into the cartridge and would be an easy transfer. Now I'm thinking I should have just got it through the other website and sent this in to have them do it.

The only suggestion I've gotten so far is to try and break the strap free from the old cartridge and the rivet. Then glue and/or tie it with string to the new one.

I wouldn't mind trying to glue it and or tie it down with thin string or maybe fishing line but I'd like to try and get the strap off in tact so if/when I purchase a new cart I've got it if I come across a more appropriate technique to attach it.

I'm also a bit afraid of adding to much in the way of glue or string to attach because I'm not familiar with how to make the appropriate adjustments to the arm or whatnot that might be needed afterward.

It is quite easy to remove the strap using a small drill on the rivet. I've done it many times. Then reattach it to the new one without removing the rivet using a machine screw. You can find one small enough at hobby shops. After installing it on the tonearm reset the VTF to 2-4gms by adjusting the screw underneath the back of the arm. If you are not up to the task then find a professional. You don't want to damage your investment.

I have ordered many of those cartridges back in the day from Garage-a-Records, or where ever, and have never seen one WITHOUT that mount. Something's not right, and you may have been ripped off. What's gonna hold the cartridge in place? You can see the single screw in the pic that holds everything together. --BB

Bobby Basham
Tucson, Arizona

"you may have been ripped off."

No he didn't get ripped off. The seller/s of these give accurate descriptions about the strap not being attached. He could have went with the seller that offered to change it out. It's really a simple matter of doing like Thom says. I reuse the rivet and use epoxy. Use right drill bit, light drilling and it comes right off. Almost anyone can do it except my brother-in-law. Don't have to re-adjust pressure unless someone has messed it up. The nominal is 4 grams. If you have to adjust get it down without skipping and you should be ok. By-the-way, the old cartridge is bad, correct?

Bill

I don't feel like I was ripped off. The product was well represented and plainly stated it did not come with the metal strap. This was an error on my behalf by not fully investigating the issue of moving the strap before placing my purchase. I have also found that several stores state that this cartridge with the strap is difficult to find and makes it much more expensive.

On to how I have resolved this issue though for any future folks like me looking about this issue.

First I had the problem of removing the strap that was riveted to the old cartridge. I used a 1/16" (1.2 mm) drill bit and VERY light pressure on the top side of cartridge. I placed it square in the hole of the rivet and used very short slow bursts. I made maybe three or four revolutions stopped and checked my work. I didn't drill completely through the rivet but eventually the rounded area that holds the fastener in place spun a bit and popped off.

I thought this would be enough to pull the rest of the fastener out the bottom of the cartridge so I never brought the drill bit near the strap. This wasn't the case but it did provide some experience with the procedure that made me a bit more confident. I tried pulling on the strap as square to the cartridge as possible but could not pull the rivet fastener out. I performed the same procedure on the bottom side of the cartridge. Again I placed the drill bit as square as possible in the hold of the rivet that held the strap to the cartridge. Again I used short slow bursts of maybe three or four revolutions and then stopping to inspect my work. It was important to me that I removed no material from the metal strap itself so if I am able to find an appropriate way to mount this in the future I can. Again the rounded part of the rivet that held this fastener on popped off. The metal strap pulled away fairly easily after this.

I feel my drill bit was just a wee bit to large and so I inspected the metal strap. I don't believe I removed any material from the strap. On the old cartridge the metal clip that holds the needle obviously fell off as a result from removing this rivet. If you're going to do this make absolutely certain you don't want your old cartridge.

The metal strap didn't fit quite squarely to the new cartridge. The rivet on the new cartridge kept it from sitting flush to the cartridge. I poured out some super glue on a piece of cardboard and used a toothpick to apply as little glue as possible to the metal plate surrounding the rivet on the new cartridge. Obviously this didn't hold the strap so on try two I applied the glue to the rivet itself. This seems to hold the metal strap fairly well. I didn't quite trust this though. For a backup method of keeping this attached I put a piece of thread through the hole with the rivet. A needle threader makes this job tremendously easier! I wrapped the thread completely around the cartridge and strap once and put it back through the hole. Again the needle threader is a huge time saver. I wrapped the thread around the cartridge the opposite way again one complete time and tied it off. Using a toothpick as a finger helped with the knot tying. I cut the thread as close to the knot as I could.

Attaching this to the arm was a job as well. Thankfully I had seen in another thread that to remove the arm on this (or a similar) machine there's just one screw to remove. After taking the arm off and using tweezers to attach the tiny wires to the cartridge the cartridge attached easily.

Took me a while to attach the arm again. I'm not sure what happened but when I was first finished with it the arm seemed to sit quite a bit higher than it used to. I backed that screw attaching the arm out a bit and then it sat to low. I tightened it up again and put a record on and it seemed to work just fine. I'm hoping I didn't mess something else up in the process of messing with the arm.