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Stylus Brushes

I'm still getting good results from those IKEA rechargeables that were discussed in a thread on here some time ago.

They appear to have replaced their 1000mAh offering with 1900mAh. I've a couple of 4 packs of the 2450mAh that I consistently use in Apple peripherals (Magic Mouse, Trackpad and Wireless Keyboard) and these last a really long time between charges. Although one can expect fewer charge cycles over the life of the batteries as the mAh go up, these have been going strong for a number of years now.

I've had two none rechargeable batteries that seemed to last forever. I don't recall what make the original battery was that came with AT637, the other was a single Sony branded AA that came with the remote for my old giant (200lbs!) Sony CRT TV. I was a young man when I purchased that telly (in fact I could lift it back then) and that battery still works.
 
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Any battery seems to last forever in the AT637! I guess one uses it fairly infrequently for little time and it doesn’t draw much anyway. I can only recall sticking a couple in it over the 40 years I’ve had it, and in recent years I’ve tended to replace old but good batteries just in fear they might leak. The Eneloop Pro rechargeable is perfect, it will stay charged for ages and they can’t leak the way alkaline ones do. As I understand it the Ikea Ladda ones are re-branded Eneloop Pros, so an absolute bargain.

PS As per my battery thread I am now absolutely convinced mass-market alkaline batteries are crap. I’ve now purged them from everywhere aside from cheap smoke alarms. My multimeter, sound meters etc now have lithium batteries.
 
Tony L said:
Any battery seems to last forever in the AT637! I guess one uses it fairly infrequently for little time and it doesn’t draw much anyway.
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I think mine still has the original battery from new. I should check it for leaking.

I used the brush that came with my MC25FL for a while.
 
Tony L said:
Just measured the AT637 and I was way out, it is 394Hz, so a slightly sharp G4. Well inside the frequency range a cartridge is designed to handle and perfectly safe IMO.
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Is that frequency with a rechargeable battery that may be 1.2v rather than a 1.5v alakline?
 
It was with a Panasonic Eneloop Pro, which hold 1.4V IIRC, though this one hasn’t been charged for a while. Double-checking with a new fresh Duracell alkaline there is no difference; they are both showing 398/399Hz now using the Cleartune app on my iPhone. I get the impression the AT637 uses negligible battery power, as stated upthread they keep working for a decade or more on a battery, I tended to throw them out when I was afraid of leaks rather than it appearing to be flat. I guess 400Hz was the target figure with a little leeway for tolerance.
 
chiily said:
I think mine still has the original battery from new. I should check it for leaking.

I used the brush that came with my MC25FL for a while.
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The old Ortofon 'Doll's Toothbrush' appears to have given way to another knock off what started out as the AKG carbon fibre brush (at least the first time I encountered one it was inclusive with AKG cartridges in the late '70s). Variants of the AKG brush appear to be available from all sorts these days. Ortofon still list what used to be the old freebie brush at €2 but show it as 'Out of Stock'. Ortofon's AKG-alike fibre brush is listed at €12.90 (compare with Pro-Ject Clean-it at £9 or £10). As much as I cherish my AT637, one of these fibre brushes, along with a wee bottle of A-T or Nagaoka cleaner for stubborn jobs, is all one really needs.

Having said the above, the best manual brush ever is the old Dishwasher SC-2. The short natural bristles are as tight as a tight thing and the broader contact patch area makes it easier to use effectively. There is an embedded convex mirror on the flip side too. I've two of these here with the one that gets used most often having long since been taken out of its wooden handle/holder (as pictured in a previous post here). There is a pin that is pressed through a hole within one side of the wood block and on through the elongated slot in the plastic brush 'armature', allowing for extension/retraction/swivelling. This actually makes usage a bit fiddly, IME. One can insert a hobby knife blade beneath the plastic brush armature and easily work this pin out.

2.jpg
 
I’ve got one of those somewhere (and a Discwasher record brush with the wood handle). I’ll dig it out and have a try.

The simple stylus brush I use is the white plastic one with the slightly conical handle that comes with a DL-103. That conical handle is great for gently enlarging too-tight spindle-holes without leaving even the slightest hint of damage to the record label. It could have been purpose-designed for the task!
 
Embarrassingly, I too have the Dishwasher record brush. If ever there had been a waste of real walnut, these were it.

Does take cat hairs and lint off from fine silk shirts and smalls, though. Won't stand up to cotton.
 
I have a bottle of LAST 4 that has been knockin around here since I left the hi-Fi biz -about 25 years ago. Was at my old job today and picked up the current Stylast. What really works for me is the Transcriptor's Record Sweep. Had one of these on a Hydraulic Reference that i sold to a friend about 50 years ago-passed thru my hands and remembered how amazingly well that squirrel hair brush on it's own simple arm had worked. I now own 2 stock units and a modified unit. Despite playing some moderately grungy thrift store finds -I very,very rarely have to liquid clean a stylus tip -the squirrel hair brush does a amazingly great job of getting dust and hair off records. It is not a substitute for either RCM or Ultrasonic cleaning-but allows me to play thrifties before cleaning simply to judge whether musically and condition wise they are worth bothering with.
 
audiopile said:
I have a bottle of LAST 4 that has been knockin around here since I left the hi-Fi biz -about 25 years ago. Was at my old job today and picked up the current Stylast. What really works for me is the Transcriptor's Record Sweep. Had one of these on a Hydraulic Reference that i sold to a friend about 50 years ago-passed thru my hands and remembered how amazingly well that squirrel hair brush on it's own simple arm had worked. I now own 2 stock units and a modified unit. Despite playing some moderately grungy thrift store finds -I very,very rarely have to liquid clean a stylus tip -the squirrel hair brush does a amazingly great job of getting dust and hair off records. It is not a substitute for either RCM or Ultrasonic cleaning-but allows me to play thrifties before cleaning simply to judge whether musically and condition wise they are worth bothering with.
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Lest we forget, the matching Transcriptors Stylus Brush. Not a diamond scrubber, but there has never been a better built fluff remover...

1078133-rare-reference-sweep-arm-by-ja-michell-stylus-brush.jpg
 
I also use a 637 but not often, my SC2 gets very regular use, sometimes with a smear of clearaudio elixir.

I have never followed the instructions for the sc2, I use it moored with gusto.
 
Craig B said:
The old Ortofon 'Doll's Toothbrush' appears to have given way to another knock off what started out as the AKG carbon fibre brush (at least the first time I encountered one it was inclusive with AKG cartridges in the late '70s). Variants of the AKG brush appear to be available from all sorts these days. Ortofon still list what used to be the old freebie brush at €2 but show it as 'Out of Stock'. Ortofon's AKG-alike fibre brush is listed at €12.90 (compare with Pro-Ject Clean-it at £9 or £10). As much as I cherish my AT637, one of these fibre brushes, along with a wee bottle of A-T or Nagaoka cleaner for stubborn jobs, is all one really needs.

Having said the above, the best manual brush ever is the old Dishwasher SC-2. The short natural bristles are as tight as a tight thing and the broader contact patch area makes it easier to use effectively. There is an embedded convex mirror on the flip side too. I've two of these here with the one that gets used most often having long since been taken out of its wooden handle/holder (as pictured in a previous post here). There is a pin that is pressed through a hole within one side of the wood block and on through the elongated slot in the plastic brush 'armature', allowing for extension/retraction/swivelling. This actually makes usage a bit fiddly, IME. One can insert a hobby knife blade beneath the plastic brush armature and easily work this pin out.

2.jpg
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Yep, that’s what I use (without liquid), simples!
 
Ian Stafford said:
The one device that could save your life!
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Yes, but annoyingly the ones I have just don’t seem to work with anything other than a very full alkaline battery. To be honest they bang through batteries so fast I don’t think there is a prospect of them leaking, plus 9V alkaline batteries are effectively double-sealed anyway (there are six individual 1.5V cells sealed in the plastic rectangular case). They start screeching very annoyingly for a new battery every six months to a year! It is amusing just how out of sync they are now despite all four being installed at the same time about 10 years ago.

FWIW I’ve never had a 9V battery leak, though I did replace the ones in my £300 Fluke multimeter and collection of sound-meters with lithium just to be sure. No way I want to be flushing corrosive battery gunk out of really nice kit!
 
I use the AT, had it for years, when I had the Dynavector XX2 MKII I was always wary of using it as the cantilever looked so delicate, whereas the Karma has a cantilever like a scaffold pole :D

If I recall both the Dynavectors DV20 and XX2 I had came with that green sandpaper in the box.

I also got some stylus cleaning liquid from Russ Andrews and the stylus brush they supplied was the same as I got with my Philips Electric Shaver :eek:
 
Levin Design makes some nice brushes that are quite nice, but they are a bit pricey. As mentioned above, I find a nice soft artists brush to work very well, along with the AT cleaners.
 
Craig B said:
Lest we forget, the matching Transcriptors Stylus Brush. Not a diamond scrubber, but there has never been a better built fluff remover...
Click to expand...

I have a Michell Hydraulic Reference, but I have never fitted either of those tbh!
 
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