Gold Signature tonearm number 017

It is the actual Gold Signature mentioned in the GS page here.

When the Gold Signatures were new in the 1980s they retailed at £2000 plus, depending on spec. This one has a number of features not found on the early arms, including a special offset pillar mount with unique clamping arrangement and various other tweaks.

If you are interested in having a new Gold Signature made, email me and we can discuss whether I am able to do it and how much it will cost. 


The particular arm in the photos (now sold) is number 017 from May 2009.

Almost all these GS arms were made to customers' specifications by me and this one is unusual in that it was made for myself. The parts had been in storage for some 15 years. Consequently there are some small blemishes to the finish which may be seen on the last few photos below.

It is a nominal 9" effective length with an SME mounting plate.

It features all brass construction, gold plated with 24ct hard gold over nickel.

It is wired with van den hul mss7 wire from cartridge connectors to the now standard 5pin MDIN tonearm connector at the bottom of the pillar.

The arm-tube is fixed and not removable nor adjustable.

There is one auxiliary counterweight which allow cartridges of up to around 13g to be used. With an extra auxiliary weight,  heavier carts could be used.

There are two gemstones fitted, aquamarines, one to the headshell and another on the end of the operating lever of the cueing device.

The weight of the arm is 800g. This is a couple of hundred grams or so more then the standard XG,  depending on counterweights.

More photos below.




It has my engraved signature, date and serial number on the base.

 

There are a couple of blemishes: 

on the arm tube: 

on the counterweight:

 and on the headshell, where the underlying nickel plating is slightly rippled below the stone to the left (the green and red colours are reflections):