[sbish]

Aha, I took the tone-arm off, so I could get behind it, and ran your test, and sure enough, plenty of hum! So that definitely points at the Catridge then, guess I'm looking at finding someone to rebuild it, or trying to do it myself, though -- being so far up in the mountains, I have no idea where to suss out a donor crystal, aside snooping about online.

Will have to poke around that DIY thread by Syl some more.