Suitable substitute for tonearm silicone damping fluid?

[Beagle]

My Mission tonearm has a trough that should hold thick silicone damping fluid (a "paddle" extending from the arm sits in the trough to damp tonearm resonances).

The silicone fluid has long since "dried up" and disappeared, so the arm may not be operating as well as it could. Does anyone know where this silicon fluid can be obtained or can anyone suggest a suitable substitute, short of giving Pamela a call?

[aashton]

Probably not the cheapest way to do it - but my Graham tonearm uses silicone damping fluid as well and replacement syringes of it are available here for $25 http://www.musicalsurroundings.com/graham/accessories.html or here http://www.elusivedisc.com/prodinfo.asp?number=GRAHSILICONE&variation=&aitem=5&mitem=5

All the best - Andrew

[Beagle]

Andrew, thanks for that info! :)

[John Buchanan]

I quite liked the Mission 774 arm. Designed by John Bicht of Versa Dynamics fame and manufactured to his specifications. Bearings could be a little sticky, but it had lots of good ideas and was pretty rigid. Manufacturing quality and finish was not quite at the highest standard, but good. I've never seen a counterweight decoupled as loosely as that before. The bearing housings on mine started to rust externally, so I traded it in on an Ittok, which was better all round.

[Beagle]

Originally posted by John Buchanan
I quite liked the Mission 774 arm. Designed by John Bicht of Versa Dynamics fame and manufactured to his specifications. Bearings could be a little sticky, but it had lots of good ideas and was pretty rigid. Manufacturing quality and finish was not quite at the highest standard, but good. I've never seen a counterweight decoupled as loosely as that before. The bearing housings on mine started to rust externally, so I traded it in on an Ittok, which was better all round.

I was fortunate in being able to acquire a new 774 arm tube and wiring about a year ago. My original wiring was pretty well shot and the tapped holes in the mounting block were well stripped. I was young and inexperienced when I got the original arm and did not take the best care of it.

The 774 is the most detailed arm I've yet heard, clean and precise and goes very low in the bottom end. A bit of a resonance peak around 8kHz but if you mate it with a cartridge that droops a bit in that area you have a match made in heaven.

Interestingly enough, the guy who sold me this arm in 1980 went on to become president of Mission several years later.