Cortez in Collins Mississippi- $400

[CarlosV]

I know that there is some tracking error on the model. What kind of needles do you use? Of course steel needles cause some damages on the groove. I use fiber needle, especially susudake needles, which won't cause so much damages on the groove if you combine them with Ibota wax, which is used also so expensive Japanese swords (Katana).

Hideki

I essentially only use fiber needles, Hideki, the ones made by our forum member Orchorsol and, when I can find them, vintage ones, like the IM, that come in a top hat shaped box, or US-made vintage thorn needles; I also use ibota wax, that I bought - I think - from you some years ago. I get empirical evidence of the higher stress caused by the Cortez when I play the same lightly worn record on the HMV202 and on the Cortez, utilizing the same fiber needle: I play the whole side on the 202, while the needle wears out ⅔ of the way on the Cortez. Another evidence is that in the few times I utilized steel needles on the Cortez, I always noticed the dreaded gray residue left on the tip of the needle at the end of the play.

[Watanabehi]

I know that there is some tracking error on the model. What kind of needles do you use? Of course steel needles cause some damages on the groove. I use fiber needle, especially susudake needles, which won't cause so much damages on the groove if you combine them with Ibota wax, which is used also so expensive Japanese swords (Katana).

Hideki

I essentially only use fiber needles, Hideki, the ones made by our forum member Orchorsol and, when I can find them, vintage ones, like the IM, that come in a top hat shaped box, or US-made vintage thorn needles; I also use ibota wax, that I bought - I think - from you some years ago. I get empirical evidence of the higher stress caused by the Cortez when I play the same lightly worn record on the HMV202 and on the Cortez, utilizing the same fiber needle: I play the whole side on the 202, while the needle wears out ⅔ of the way on the Cortez. Another evidence is that in the few times I utilized steel needles on the Cortez, I always noticed the dreaded gray residue left on the tip of the needle at the end of the play.

Here is the youtube performance of my Cortez using my susudake (100-to-200-year-old smoked bamboo) fiber needles and Ibota wax. HMV 202 has a tonearm, which is designed to improve the tracking error, but Cortez has tracking error, which might have caused wearing out the regular bamboo needle soon. The record I used is Andre Previn's RCA Victor album in Near Mint condition. The recording level is very high, but my Cortez played it to the end beautifully. All The records I have need to be near mint in my case. If they are not, the result is disaster. My dog interfered a little on the video.

By the way, I put a ring-shaped felt between tonearm and the soundbox in order to make it more air-tight.

https://youtu.be/NYcEP-0K98o

Hideki

[CarlosV]

Here is the youtube performance of my Cortez using my susudake (100-to-200-year-old smoked bamboo) fiber needles and Ibota wax. HMV 202 has a tonearm, which is designed to improve the tracking error, but Cortez has tracking error, which might have caused wearing out the regular bamboo needle soon. The record I used is Andre Previn's RCA Victor album in Near Mint condition. The recording level is very high, but my Cortez played it to the end beautifully. All The records I have need to be near mint in my case. If they are not, the result is disaster. My dog interfered a little on the video.

By the way, I put a ring-shaped felt between tonearm and the soundbox in order to make it more air-tight.

https://youtu.be/NYcEP-0K98o

Hideki

Thanks for posting the video, Hideki, it is a nice piece and sounds good. The constraint of the Cortez is that, as you mention, it performs well with new records, but is not very gentle on the thorn needles when playing records that are not mint or that have high level of modulation. The felt is a nice idea, I may try it on mine. I thought about adding a piece of rubber in between arm and soundbox to eliminate the metal-to-metal contact and act as a damper but could not devise a practical way.

[JerryVan]

Here is the youtube performance of my Cortez using my susudake (100-to-200-year-old smoked bamboo) fiber needles and Ibota wax. HMV 202 has a tonearm, which is designed to improve the tracking error, but Cortez has tracking error, which might have caused wearing out the regular bamboo needle soon. The record I used is Andre Previn's RCA Victor album in Near Mint condition. The recording level is very high, but my Cortez played it to the end beautifully. All The records I have need to be near mint in my case. If they are not, the result is disaster. My dog interfered a little on the video.

By the way, I put a ring-shaped felt between tonearm and the soundbox in order to make it more air-tight.

https://youtu.be/NYcEP-0K98o

Hideki

Thanks for posting the video, Hideki, it is a nice piece and sounds good. The constraint of the Cortez is that, as you mention, it performs well with new records, but is not very gentle on the thorn needles when playing records that are not mint or that have high level of modulation. The felt is a nice idea, I may try it on mine. I thought about adding a piece of rubber in between arm and soundbox to eliminate the metal-to-metal contact and act as a damper but could not devise a practical way.

Looking at the end of the tone arm, on the face of the aluminum sleeve, I've noticed 4 little "divots". I've also noticed 4 corresponding marks inside the throat of the reproducer. My theory is, there may have been a rubber gasket that mounted on or into those 4 divots at one time. I've never seen any crumbled remains of a gasket however...

[Watanabehi]

Here is the youtube performance of my Cortez using my susudake (100-to-200-year-old smoked bamboo) fiber needles and Ibota wax. HMV 202 has a tonearm, which is designed to improve the tracking error, but Cortez has tracking error, which might have caused wearing out the regular bamboo needle soon. The record I used is Andre Previn's RCA Victor album in Near Mint condition. The recording level is very high, but my Cortez played it to the end beautifully. All The records I have need to be near mint in my case. If they are not, the result is disaster. My dog interfered a little on the video.

By the way, I put a ring-shaped felt between tonearm and the soundbox in order to make it more air-tight.

https://youtu.be/NYcEP-0K98o

Hideki

Thanks for posting the video, Hideki, it is a nice piece and sounds good. The constraint of the Cortez is that, as you mention, it performs well with new records, but is not very gentle on the thorn needles when playing records that are not mint or that have high level of modulation. The felt is a nice idea, I may try it on mine. I thought about adding a piece of rubber in between arm and soundbox to eliminate the metal-to-metal contact and act as a damper but could not devise a practical way.

I forgot to mention that my Cortez has a longer tone arm than a regular Cortez tone arm. It seems that My Cortez tone arm has better tracking. I will post the photo of it later. Thanks.

Hideki

[Watanabehi]

Here is the youtube performance of my Cortez using my susudake (100-to-200-year-old smoked bamboo) fiber needles and Ibota wax. HMV 202 has a tonearm, which is designed to improve the tracking error, but Cortez has tracking error, which might have caused wearing out the regular bamboo needle soon. The record I used is Andre Previn's RCA Victor album in Near Mint condition. The recording level is very high, but my Cortez played it to the end beautifully. All The records I have need to be near mint in my case. If they are not, the result is disaster. My dog interfered a little on the video.

By the way, I put a ring-shaped felt between tonearm and the soundbox in order to make it more air-tight.

https://youtu.be/NYcEP-0K98o

Hideki

Thanks for posting the video, Hideki, it is a nice piece and sounds good. The constraint of the Cortez is that, as you mention, it performs well with new records, but is not very gentle on the thorn needles when playing records that are not mint or that have high level of modulation. The felt is a nice idea, I may try it on mine. I thought about adding a piece of rubber in between arm and soundbox to eliminate the metal-to-metal contact and act as a damper but could not devise a practical way.

I forgot to mention that my Cortez has a longer tone arm than a regular Cortez tone arm. It seems that My Cortez tone arm has better tracking. I will post the photo of it later. Thanks.

Hideki

Here are the photos of my Cortez tonearm and a regular Cortez tonearm.

Hideki

[CarlosV]

Here are the photos of my Cortez tonearm and a regular Cortez tonearm.

Hideki

My Cortez has also the long tonearm. I do not see any significant track issues with the Cortez design. The Cortez design shortcoming, as I mentioned before, is the hard coupling between soundbox and arm, that impinges higher wear to the record surface and does not provide the necessary acoustic isolation. This issue had been identified and solved by most brands since very early times (most Victor, Columbia and Pathé soundboxes had rubber isolators almost from the start of their production).