diyAudio - Winn Labs / EPA500 Rides again!

Hi all:
Several months ago I posted a few pix of the Winn Labs prototype (give to me by TerryO) after it was cleaned up and operational.
It came with a Technics EPA 500 tonearm - a very impressive bit of Japanese engineering - base but missing the arm wand. Subsequent searching failed to turn up an arm wand for less than the price of my mortgage payment. May the hi-fi gods bless Planet10 for coining the term 'frugalphile' - I'm one of those.

I mounted another arm (a Grace 714) and was happy with the result, but the idea of that delicious EPA 500 was gnawing away at me. Then it struck me:- I am supposed to be a DIY'er, no? so I should get busy and DIY a solution, yes!

With leftovers from another DIY tonearm project, I dug up a piece of carbon fibre fishing rod and other bits and pieces. Turns out that the connector for the original arm wand is standard .1" pin spacing, so a normal pin header does duty as the contact. The notch in the rod fits snugly over the square bar at the heart of the pivot. I just need to work out a clamp, but it works VERY well without

As you see it, it carries a Linn 'Klyde' MC cartridge which tracks like a dream and sounds very fine.

The result is as you see in the photos. The sound? - stunning!

Cheers

Jess