Stylus cleaning ?

[berniebanks]

I've always used a carbon fiber brush, brushing from back to front. How do you clean yours ?

 

[Lar]

http://www.needledoctor.com/Onzow-Zerodust?sc=2&category=214

 

[Noskipallwd]

Onzow-Zerodust as well as a carbon fiber brush, tried the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser thing but just did not work as welll as the Zerodust. When I first got into vinyl in the 80's I bought a Linn Sondek LP12, back then Linns advice was to use ultra-fine grit jewelers sandpaper. It worked well but I imagine it shortened the life of the stylus considerably. Still have some around the house somewhere.

Cheers,
Shawn

 

[berniebanks]

I also had  linn LP12 with a K9 cartridge back then. and same thing I remember the sandpaper was olive green in colour.

 

[Wanderer]

Mister Clean Magic Eraser, just dip the stylus in and out - no dragging the stylus through it, works for me.

The Disc Doctor Stylus Cleaner and its associated brush gets used once a week or so. The DD SC fluid also gets used if I play a used LP that seems particulary "gooey-gummy". My Nitty Gritty usually gets the records clean but every once and a while I get a used disc that seems to have been treated with something particularly noxious (WD-40? Vaseline? Vicks?) 

The "gooey" LPs go for another round of cleaning with The Disc Doctor brushes and MoFi Super Deep with distilled water rinse and another ride on the Nitty Gritty. 

 

[Laudanum]

Mr Clean Magic Eraser for me as well.  But also use an old Discwasher Stylus Brush with a drop of fluid every so often.

 

[Grainger49]

http://www.needledoctor.com/Onzow-Zerodust?sc=2&category=214

I think I posted about this stuff in a different thread.  I have been using Extreme Phono's Solid State Stylus cleaner for several years.  At $26 vs $79, it is a good deal.  I bought at $20.

http://www.extremephono.com/Stylus_Cleaner.htm

I have a cube of Magic Eraser but can't tell that it does much.  With the gooey stuff you can see that it retains all the dust that was on the stylus.

 

[Noskipallwd]

I also had  linn LP12 with a K9 cartridge back then. and same thing I remember the sandpaper was olive green in colour.

Yep, that's the one, definetly had to remember to turn the volume down before cleaning with these.
Grainger, do you think The extreme phono unit is as effective as the Zerodust?  'Cause that is much easier on the wallet!

Cheers,
Shawn

 

[Grainger49]

I don't know.  It is hard to compare because I'm so cheap that I would never pay $79 for a cleaner.  Also, I have about 17 brushes, a Diskwasher Stylus Brush and SC-2 liquid already.  I just thought the gooey stuff was a good idea.  You could probably use that sticky stuff that holds mail closed these days.  Just be careful.

I mean, after all, look at my (joke) cable lifters:

 

[berniebanks]

Excellent, I was hoping there would to be a cheaper alternative to Zerodust.

Love the cable lifters by the way.

 

[Noskipallwd]

I wouldn't call that cheap Grainger, resourceful would be better. A friend of mine is using these old ceramic housings from power lines as cable lifters, he picked them up cheap at an auction.

Cheers,
Shawn

 

[Grainger49]

My wife worked for South Central Bell when we met.  She was already collecting all sorts of insulators then and continued.  Our last move we lost space and now have 8 book boxes filled with un-displayed insulators.

We have skidded the OP's thread pretty much sideways.