JICO fills a unique role in the world of audio equipment: They’re essentially turntable needle archaeologists, reproducing discontinued needles so that music listeners can continue using vintage record players. Though the 13 people, including Morita, who work in the company’s turntable needle division also make original models like the Kurogaki, their main job is to reverse-engineer proprietary needles that have long gone out of production. If you’ve ever replaced a needle for an old turntable you found at a garage sale, odds are you purchased one of JICO’s handmade clones.
JICO’s walls are lined with 2,000 different models of needles that they’ve recreated, but the company’s trajectory changed in 2018 thanks to one needle in particular: the Shure N-447, a discontinued favorite of hip-hop DJs, which JICO revived from the dead. This is the needle that transformed the company from a niche parts supplier to a household name in the world of vinyl DJs.