First time I see a failure like this, I hope you find an economical and good solution. I was testing an BG RX after repair, and moving a MMC 4 from another deck, and thinking about what could happen, if doing this too often. About to order more from Axel, at least one MMC2 with Shibata, and 2 MMC4 .

Wow, really sorry that happened to you, but man!  That is one awesome photograph!

The surprising thing about the photo is that I didn't take it with my normal, Canon SLR camera...I took that picture with my Nokia cell phone. It has a pretty nice camera built in. It can't do everything the big camera can do but it is surprising what it can do.

-sonavor

I can't see from the photograph but you say it looks like it would snap back in - do the four pins look like they just mate with contacts inside the cartridge body or is something actually broken?

Also, it appears that the pin closest to the camera has a metal tag/clip which connects it to the body of the cartridge - if this is the case and you have an ohm meter you may be able to determine the correct orientation by testing which pin has continuity with the body on another cartridge.

Hope this helps,

Martin.

riverstyx wrote:

I can't see from the photograph but you say it looks like it would snap back in - do the four pins look like they just mate with contacts inside the cartridge body or is something actually broken?

Also, it appears that the pin closest to the camera has a metal tag/clip which connects it to the body of the cartridge - if this is the case and you have an ohm meter you may be able to determine the correct orientation by testing which pin has continuity with the body on another cartridge.

Hope this helps,

Martin.

That is what I thought too but the first cartridge repair shop I asked says there are tiny, hairline wires that are supposed to connect from the plug (that came off) to the cartridge. So those are severed and apparently can't be re-attached. I also sent the picture to Axel to see what he says but I haven't heard back from him yet. The first repair shop says they can fix it but I am waiting to see what all my options are. I will eventually get it repaired as the cantilever and tip are still in great condition.

If the hair line wires comes from the coils, it will be very difficult to repair, but lets wait and see what Axel says, is this an original or was it repaired before, if repaired, by whom.

This cartridge is an original I believe. I do have an MMC2 body without a cantilever and tip that I could ask the repair shop to use but I'm waiting to hear from Axel first. I am tempted to let Benny Amina of Modular Electronics do the repair to find out how his workmanship is. But I have used Axel before and he is great so it's hard not to just send it to him. I've never tried Soundsmith. I contacted them once and never got a response so I'm not sure about them. Their pricing seems a bit high for this particular repair I think (since my cantilever and tip are in really good condition).

FYI - Here is another picture of the broken MMC2. You can see two of the tiny wires that broke off when the back piece came off. I can see why that is almost impossible to repair.

I suggest that the reason that you have not heard back from Axel is that he is still laughing!

Throw it in the bin, bite the bullet and buy another one.