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An old thread but feel the topic may have ongoing relavence since after market stuff for Shures and Grados seems to be popular. Among the many mods or after market "upgrades" to cartridges there are lots of options for many makes. As far as Grado there's the long lived "longhorn mod" as a DIY or by van alstine. That mod involves a balancing bar and some added damping to the inside. The stylus remains the same. Then there's retips using exotic stylus profiles by various companies- you send the cartridge to them and they retip it with a better diamond. And then there's stylus upgrades 8MZ and MCZ made by Grado that fit the prestige series and available from KAB. The cartridge Man Grado is a retipped Grado. Alternatively you could have a retip done and save a lot of money. I have not done it but I have read in reviews (both professional and user) that in going to an exotic retip the Grado cartridge becomes much more set up fussy and your overall surface noise will be greater on used records. Of exotic shapes in general I find this to be true- ellipticals are more forgiving of records that are slightly scratched or worn than line contacts, Gygers, Shabitas etc. but those exotic shapes offer better detail and soundstaging, but are more set up sensitive, and even then they still represent a step down as far as dealing with surface imperfections. The only current production stock Grado to offer something other than elliptical is their top of the line wood body at 3500 dollars. Of course you could try both- stylus upgrades and the long horn mod. I feel Grado should offer a nude elliptical or a gyger stylus in the Prestige line- I believe it would sell tons. There is a market for this which they are not capitalizing. I have used the van alstine longhorn gold and comment on it elsewhere in another thread, in general I thought the longhorn mod improves in some areas but gives up some of the mid range warmth of a stock Grado- the cartridge becomes more "neutral" just as van alstine says. I have also used a gold with 8MZ stylus and feel that gives some improvement while maintaining the Grado midrange warmth but it isnt huge since the current production 8MZ stylus is still a bonded stylus, just like the stock one (but the old 8MZ was nude). I might try a retipped Grado soon.
