Okay... Just in time
I dropped by a specialty electronics store and I managed to get his last ceramic pick-up for a good price.
I never heard back from Canadian Astatic, and the cost was less than they asked anyway.
So now I have a Philips GP-815, and I just have to figure out a way to mount it (which shouldn't be difficult- it comes with a small metal plate to clamp it securely; If I drill and tap the plate then I should be able to use the original mounting screw in the BSR tone arm.
Does anyone have detailed specs? All I can find is this page, which offers little help (except confirming that it is ceramic):
http://www.topkaufmunich.de/plaintex...temphilips.php
I would assume the standard tracking weight of around 6g would apply.
(Though I've heard it's better to be on the higher end of the range- which would be ~8g. I know too light will damage the record as the stylus skates around, but what sort of problems would you get with too much tracking weight?)