The Timeless Appeal of JICO's Custom Shop Series

It is no public secret that JICO’s J44A-7, J44D, N44G and Whitelabel styli are updated reissues of the classic Shure cartridges and styli. After years without any availability, these turntablist and DJ favourites are back again!

However, did you know that the design of the shure 44-7 dates back to 1964? Before the M44-7 was an integral part of the history of hiphop, rap and battle DJ’s, it was designed as a skip-resistant needle for jukeboxes without any compromises in sound quality. This skip-resistance, durability and sound quality made the M44-7 an industry standard in the sixties and seventies.

Twenty years later, turntablism emerged and the DJ’s quickly favored the now discontinued Shure 44-7’s. In 1997, Shure relaunched the 44-7 and it quickly became first choice for DJ’s worldwide for the next 20 years. Due to the lack of available raw materials, Shure discontinued the 44-7 in 2016.

The JICO Custom Shop Series continues the legacy and reintroduces these cartridges and styli. Every model is available in both a Natural Diamond (Nude) and Synthetic Diamond version.

Natural diamonds are created through geological processes and obtained by mining. Scarcity comes into play with natural diamonds and as such they are expensive. Synthetic diamonds are produced in a controlled technological process and are composed of the same material as naturally formed diamonds and they share identical chemical and physical properties.

The cheaper price of JICO’s SD range does not relate to a lower quality product. On the contrary: with identical chemical and physical properties as natural diamond styli, synthetic diamond styli deliver the same quality as expected at a reduced price point. The most notable difference is the blue colour!