Here goes the mini guide
1)The first step is to remove the stock pin at the edge of the tonearm tube. I used what is called pinch/nipper plier and a bit of wd40. With the pliers I was able to grab the small bit of the pin that was protruding and VERY gently lifting it by alternating in a cross pattern, with a bit of WD40 in between efforts. You dont want to cut the pin with the pliers so just use enough force for a good grab and make sure you dont cut into the material. It probably took 10 minutes to get it out. There are other ways of doing it I guess but thats what worked for me and with no damage or marks to the armtube chrome. Might be good to put some painters tape around the pin to avoid any scratches.
2) After the pin is out, next is the crude work of removing the female connector of the tonearm. For this I used a small drill tip in the center of the connector drilling through and used gradually larger drill bits until I could get a hobby knife in and cut the rest of it out. Again putting some painters tape helps to avoid any accidental scratches.
3) Now is the time to work on the new headshell. With the same pliers remove the pin that is found on all SME type headshell by lifting it out. This should be very easy and usually slides out. Once that is out, most connectors get easily out of the way by pushing them with a flat screwdriver or long pointy pliers from the cartridge side of the headshell towards the tonearm side . Again that should be very easy.
4) The most difficult part for me was removing the locking collar of the lenco headshell from the tonearm. I covered the arm with several layers of tape to avoid scratches to the chrome but some small marks unfortunately occured. I used a wire cutter and basically started chipping away parts of the collar until I got it out. There must be a better way of doing it, possibly with a dremel and cutting disk.
5) Now its time to insert nylon washers, instead of rubber (optional) i got mine for a very reasonable price from this ebay seller.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134797250831?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=N4GNN6ZdT_a&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=o1uulxNFSJu&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPYWith two washers the screw of the headshell aligns with that of the tonearm pin perfectly and you can use a screw to mate headshell with tonearm. I used a steel self tapping screw no2, 6.5mm length and with a hand drill enlarged a bit the hole of the headshell so that it aids the formation of the threads in the material. Be very slow and ensure you are screwing vertically. This is absolutely critical. Best would be to use a grab screw but that requires you to tap the threads and I dont have the correct tools for the job. Finally I used a piece of grey foamy packing material to divert cables away from the threads of the screw so there are no accidents. Back to the washers, if you install 3 instead of 2 you increase the effective length to allow more comfortable alignment but that would mean you need to drill a new hole in the headshell, just above the original. Make sure you keep the same alignment to keep azimuth correct and alternatively laterally extend the hole a bit to be able to play with azimuth offset.
Thats all I believe. Hope it works for you too.
You now have a rewired tonearm with no intermediate soldering connections in the headshell and have substantially removed weight from the tip of the tonearm system, by using a good quality, well engineered, off the shelve and cheaper than analogis/thakker headshell and you saved an original headshell which can now be donated to the the commendable folk that wants to preserve the Lenco stock.
