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Grado Black with Longhorn Mod?

sfox52

sfox52

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
I've just put together a "longhorn" mod & installed it on my Grado Black with nice results! The top end is much smoother,and the bass is better defined. I used 1/8 square brass tubing, filled with a soft lead filled product that us used for fly fishing! It's about 1 & 1/2 inches long & mounted to the lower front of the cartridge body. I have it temporarily mounted using something like blu-tac. Has anyone tried this with other cartridge brands?
 
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My Thorens has that mod on it, with a Grado cartridge. I don't know the model of my cart though, is it the black?

ThorensCartDetail_082308_0002.jpg


ThorensCartDetail_082308_0001.jpg
 
spartanmanor said:
Interesting. Do you have more info on this mod?
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It was an idea pioneered by Frank Van Alstein of Audio by VanAlstein fame.
He took some model of Grado, culled them, injected somekind of goo to dampen the coils inside, and attached the "Longhorn" mod on there. there have been many copy this mod, and most successfully. it has something to do with the weight and inertia stabilizing the cartridge while in use. Search around, you should come up with all kinds of info. Its a worthwhile mod worth doing. Somewhere, maybe on the audio circles forum where there is a VanAlstein forum, I read a post by Frank himself telling all about the mod.


Russellc
 
There a guys that rave about this mod over on the vinyl engine.I did not know you could diy it yourself.
 
terryfox3 said:
There a guys that rave about this mod over on the vinyl engine.I did not know you could diy it yourself.
Click to expand...

It's very easy to do and works well. I've been adding a Longhorn to my cartridges for about 20 years.

It's actually the same Longhorn on different cartridges. I've had a succession of Grados over the years and I just transfer the longhorn to the new one.
 
Russellc said:
He took some model of Grado, culled them, injected somekind of goo to dampen the coils inside, and attached the "Longhorn" mod on there. there have been
Click to expand...

It's a silicone oil. 1000 cs. I got some from Tower Hobbies.

This is what I got: http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXKKE3&P=7#tech

This also looks similar:
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXBZT2&P=M


Be careful when you pull the stylus assembly out and put it back in. It requires a delicate touch.

In fact, I'd just stick with the Longhorn bar part of the mod if you don't feel comfortable pulling the stylus out. Just the bar by itself makes quite a difference.
 
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