Beware! Shure V15's are brittle!

Last year I was removing the wires from the pins of my Shure V15 Type III and the whole back where the pins are mounted broke apart like it was made of sugar candy!

If you own a vintage cartridge like the V15, be careful when removing the wires! The plastic/composite material can be very brittle! 

Nooooo!
These cartridges are almost extinct now. The say they were the best made by Shure. Never had the chance to listen to one of them.
 

This recording was the last song that V15 played before it fell apart. I recorded this song, pulled the head shell off the Technics and started pulling the wires off when this happened.

Shure V15 Type III - Talking Heads: 'Once in a Lifetime'  (320K mp3)


The V15 was mounted on my Technics SL-235 and going through my Musical Fidelity X-LP phono preamp. I kept the stylus, and I did find a replacement V15 Type III on Ebay. But this one sounded really sweet and it was a shame that it was so brittle.

The sample should give you an idea how a V15 type III sounds. For a moving magnet design, they definitely live up to the hype. Very clean, clear and sweet with good bass weight and definition.

Very nice!

That's a real saddening story. It's a shame cause they don't make it anymore.

1970's plastics are very brittle, you know. If you ever get another V-15, be sure to handle it with extreme care.

That's a real saddening story. It's a shame cause they don't make it anymore.

1970's plastics are very brittle, you know. If you ever get another V-15, be sure to handle it with extreme care.

I did find another V15 Type III cartridge on Ebay that had a missing cantilever and stylus. The only problem is, the original Shure stylus from the broken cartridge fits loosely in the replacement V15 body causing the stylus to want to pull out after listening to one side of a LP. Plus, the old cartridge had near perfect channel balance, and the new cartridge has an imbalance where the right channel is louder then the left, which could be caused by the loose fit of the stylus.

I thought about trying an Ed Saunders V15 replacement stylus for $39, or maybe a Jico. Does anyone have any experience with Ed Saunders replacements?

Ed's website: www.edsaunders.com