Today's Fresh Catch is the Pete Riggle Audio Engineering "Woody" headshell ($60 USD).

Pete Riggle Audio Woody Headshell

Pete describes the "Woody" headshell thusly (more HERE):

"Presently available in French polished Spanish cedar. The basic headshell weighs 6 grams. Included with the 6 gram Spanish cedar headshell is a 5 gram booster weight, which can be used to bring the total headshell mass to 11 grams. Features a non resonant ergonomic finger lift. Also available in other wood species upon request."

"We have chosen low density wood to get a 6 gram headshell weight (comparable to the very low mass mass of the early SME tonearm headshells). We did this because replaceable headshell connectors by themselves are massive (about 6 grams), increasing the effective mass of a tonearm. Keep in mind that mass can be added at the headshell, but can not be removed from a heavy headshell."

From Pete's website, photo courtesy of David Torcoletti.

The "Woody" headshell Pete sent me was missing the 5 gram booster weight, so I included a photo of it from Pete's website so you could see what it looks like (above).

Murasakino "Sumile"

I've got reviews scheduled for the Pass Labs XP-17 phono preamplifier and the Audio Note (UK) step-up transformer (SUT), so I'll be giving them a listen with Pete's "Woody" headshell mounted with the Murasakino Sumile low-impedance (1.2Ω) moving-coil phonograph cartridge - review HERE - to give them a good workout (above). 

As always, thanks for stopping by, and may the tone be with you!