Phono Cartridge Reviews

In my studio, I have a hand-sized wood box. It is the soundbox of an African musical instrument with a small internal volume, a pencil-sized sound hole, a bent steel bridge, and an array of eight steel wires with flattened ends—a keyboard. It is called a mbira . . . you can buy a spiffy varnished mbira at Walmart, where it is called a "Kalimba."

I'm far too disorganized to have kept an accurate count, but I'm pretty sure that at this point in my life I have installed or adjusted well over 5000 phono cartridges. These days I work on three or four turntables in a typical week and have been doing that consistently for the last 40 years.

Herb Senior raised me to be a wrench twirler. A problem solver. A mechanic. Not an intellectual. Or an artist. Following his example, I've devoted my life to measuring, cutting, and fastening. To putting things together.