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What do you use to clean the stylus of your turntable?

... I just stopped buying secondhand.

I just stopped buying new vinyl ages ago
Simply too expensive
Allready have thousands

Now and then buy from garage sales or charity shops whatever.
Pick 10-20 records for the price of one new LP.
Maybe scrap a few but what the heck..
 
but I presume/hope Vinyl Passion have roughly evaluated the risk and concluded minimal, otherwise they would spending wads on legal defence fees...?

The theory behind the cleaning technique seems to add up.. don't know if I would trust it on something valuable!

I wish I had your confidence. A cart. can be damaged in ways other than stylus/cantilever damage.

By 'something valuable', d'you mean cart's costing 1£K,2,3,4 and up? That's why I'm a bit sceptical as my previous posts make clear.
 
Vinyl passion dust buster on one of my matching hardwood lifters. Sits at the same height as the vinyl so makes regular cleaning a cinch.


Same!

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I wish I had your confidence. A cart. can be damaged in ways other than stylus/cantilever damage.

By 'something valuable', d'you mean cart's costing 1£K,2,3,4 and up? That's why I'm a bit sceptical as my previous posts make clear.

Yes I do mean significant value, I'd be annoyed with any damage, but 2M silver is about £70 to replace.. I'd be more cautious with a Koetsu Black! Will check your previous posts Mike, I'm intererted to see your opinion, I'm no expert in these things
 
Some years ago I tried to develop a safe, cheap fluid that would work with all cartridges and aimed primarily at the AT ultrasonic cleaner, but we got good results with a brush. We seemed to avoid issues with capillary creep up the outside or inside of cantilevers, and it didn't dissolve stylus glues either. Inevitably to make it commercially viable (even at hifi prices!) it was based on a product from a different industry, which was changed so we were faced with either giving up, or investing a lot of time and money into redeveloping a niche product, and despite minimal packaging the bottle was the majority of the cost, but it did work really well. I'm heading for retirement, so maybe I may resurrect the project. Dry cleaning will never recover baked on muck and some cantilever / diamond combinations seem to gather more fluff than others. I've had good results with the green goop stuff like blu-tak but some cantilevers tend to hang on to some of it. Even the Linn sandpaper got some deposits off a stylus cantilever junction that nothing else would shift.
 
I'd be more cautious with a Koetsu Black!

The Black (Goldline) is the cheapest in the range going up to around 12K (had one 7 or so years ago; very entertaining cart.)

The gel is adhesive to a degree (it has to be, of course), and whenever I've used it on my Benz Ebony, Urushi or Proteus, I've had amplification on (either can-amp or via the speakers. I carefully watch as the cantilever slowly lifts from the gel; there's a 'pop' and I can clearly see the canti. being held back before release.

I am not familiar with the different innards of expensive coils, but I'm sure that they weren't designed to be stressed in this manner. Believe me, I've love someone to tell me that I'm concerned unnecessarily. However, after posts here and previously in apposite threads, no-one has so much as muttered.

It would be good to have a cart. manufacturer of m/coils to comment on this aspect of what otherwise is a good cleaning medium.
 
Probably already posted on this one, but the DS Audio gel is really, really good, and in between, Nagaoka stylus cleaning fluid.
 
Dry cleaning will never recover baked on muck and some cantilever / diamond combinations seem to gather more fluff than others.

Interesting observation re. cant./stylus combos, Jem; also the fluid you developed (presumably not alcohol based). I've found in the past, when I've removed a cart. after some hundreds of hours from the fixed headshells I've had for at least 40 years, that diluted IPA, a loupe and truncated artists' brush, plus patience and fortitude, eventually removes all gunk.

When I got my (used) Benz Ebony, I took one look and thought 'oh no; that'll need a month of Sundays to get that lot off'. Turned out it was the affixing glue. All my previous cart's had been slotted and with minimal glue. However, Benz apply a malleable glue initially, then the final blob when the stylus is correctly oriented. The previous owner had been quite fastidious and I learnt sth about Benz cart's; also that they don't come with guards !!! How silly is that?
 
Probably already been said, prevention is better than cure, ie clean records negates the need to clean a stylus as often. Since getting a wet cleaner vacuum I very rarely have to clean the stylus and when I do I use the little green paper and a sable fine artists brush.
 
I have three methods of cleaning the stylus.

(1) Light fluff - ONZOW Zero Dust

(2) End of play - AT637 used dry

(3) Periodic deep clean - AT637 moistened with Lyra SPT fluid
 
Interesting observation re. cant./stylus combos, Jem; also the fluid you developed (presumably not alcohol based).
Indeed, it was water based as that made it easier to sell in various markets, and removed the fear of IPA damaging / changing rubber components. IPA is rather good at getting hardened gunk (sorry technical term) off but water based solutions get there in the end. A good microscope is useful too, though difficult to assess just how much is too much, in sonic terms. I sometimes wonder whether the ongoing popularity of high tip mass designs is because they don't go off so obviously when mucky. Most of the time all any cartridge needs is a quick dust.
 
Most of the time all any cartridge needs is a quick dust.

If i start to notice a slight distortion then i check the stylus and sure enought a little fluff from my second hand LPs has got on it.
I use a small carbon fibre brush to dust it off.
 
Anyone worried about stiction can do a simple experiment if they have a stylus balance - load a small piece of gel/putty onto the balance, put stylus on/into it, zero the balance and carefully lift the tonearm.
 


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