How do tell when my stylus is too much worn?

It has been 18 plus months or so since this thread was last updated. Poster "rauliruega" is spot on with his comments, observations and recommendations. However, he mentions that Ortofon published data on stylus tip wear. I have never been able to find such a document and I called Ortofon asking for it. So I think he means Shure and JICO, both did similar research on stylus wear hours. Their work pointed toward 400 to 500 hours of life for advanced tip shapes.

I recently took the same journey that Poster "rmm" took. What is codified in this thread is the reason why I was so confused also about critical stylus wear and hour of play life. All of the opinions expressed here are not otherwise supported by empirical research. They should be, while current cartridge manufacturers give conflicting answers to the question on critical stylus wear.

A record of my sojourn to learn how long stylus tips last is in print. As "rmm" did, I asked questions, and searched forums, looking for an answer. When I found, as in this thread, opinions that ranged all over the map, I did a deeper dive into the subject. This dive was driven to find out if my cartridge tip was worn to the point where it could damage my records. And I have a lot of records that I do not want to damage. I did not do any original research, while I am setting up to monitor my cartridge stylus tip with photomacrography. See this link to understand what that means: http://www.micrographia.com/projec/projapps/viny/viny0300.htm.

I compiled everything I learned along the way into an written piece that was published in late May (2019) on The Vinyl Press. I found a lot of material on the subject that I believe will help answer your question.

See the link to my essay or discussion or article, whatever you want to call it, here: https://thevinylpress.com/the-finish-line-for-your-phonograph-stylus/.
Also, see this thread for a number of terrific responses to this article: https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/the-finish-line-for-your-phono-cartridge-stylus-wear-by-mike-...

Dear @rauliruegas, Thank you for your post. And the heads up about Ortofon research. I may inquire again with them. You have been there before, and so have I and as reported in my essay, so have others. Even after I posted a link to my article, which others tell me is well researched, folks assert that retipping at say 500± hours is "nonsense." That is the main reason why I say at some point in my article in reference to me, "People generally believe they know far more than they actually do, and as a consequence, they can be highly skeptical of new information." As Bill Walton is famous for saying, "You can’t teach someone what they don’t want to know." That noted, my recommendation is simple, at about 500 to 600 hours, have your stylus tip checked for wear. If the 500 hour marker is nonsense, the check will reveal that.

I have not done original research on stylus wear. I know that. I only report what Shure and JICO and Harold Weiler and many others actually learned though empirical research. If that is insufficient to get folks to at least check their stylus tips for critical wear, you can’t do more. Advanced tip shapes are designed to maximize the contact with a vinyl groove across the tip and groove. That is why they are so good at high frequency reproduction. And they exhibit distortion only at the point they are damaging record grooves.

But these shapes are still made of diamond. And diamond wears. Shape matters not on the rate of wear; it is VTF per unit area of tip exposure. A lot of that wear comes from grit embedded in the record groove that defies our ability to remove it. Some folks believe that dirt begins to abrade the diamond tip, creating in the process diamond dust. The additional of diamond dust is even more abrasive thereby accelerating tip wear. This is supposition on my part yet I have made an inquiry of someone who knows to see what the precise process is. However, I was told point blank by someone with many, many decades of direct observation that stylus tip shape makes little or not difference is stylus tip life.

Coming from me, I understand that is hearsay. I’m sorry. So that brings me around to the simple recommendation to have your tip examined at about 500 to 600 hours so that you can learn from yourself if it has critical wear. If that examination proves your tip is barely worn, you now have a strong reference point. But if you do not check it, and insist they last for 1,500 hour or more, well, they are your records. On the other hand, maybe on some systems, 500 hours is too soon, it is nonsense. Just check it.
Again, thank you for reaching out and I am glad you enjoyed the piece. It took me a lot longer to put together than I originally anticipated. But I did it to learn, and learn I did.

@chakster, I have read that you believe these advanced tips may last longer than 500 hours. I’m fine with that, actually. I have not done the research necessary to say otherwise. I do agree with you that stylus life may be dependent upon shape, and that is what JICO discovered, as published now by SoundSmith.

The high centering issue, I think, is recommending life over 500 to 600 hours. Do the advanced tips last 1,500 to 2,000 or in some cases 2,000 hours? Honestly—I admit—I do not know. I can say I do not believe so, but I am not that knowledgeable to say that absolutely. As a consequence, I advise folks to have a look see, get their stylus tip examined at 500 to 600 hours. In my case, I would not say it is "nonsense" that advanced tips only last that long for the simple reason that I have not performed primary research myself to confirm that conclusion. Again, I don’t know. I do know what the case was for my Ortofon Cadenza Black MC played on only very clean records. And 2,000 hours for that tip was not good advice.

So in my case, from what I have learned, I recommend that folks send their kit to a qualified person to pass judgement, if they are not in a position to examine the stylus tip themselves. If someone prefers to operate in the dark, to believe otherwise based on whatever, I’m okay with that because in the end, it is their records. Yet I sure hope I have not been party to their damaging their record collection based on my call.
What I have done clearly in my essay or article or whatever you want to call it, is to appeal to cartridge manufacturers or stylus tip manufacturers (they are/can be different) to publish data on critical stylus tip wear. Yes we have the Shure experience from the mid to late 1970s. Yes we have the JICO reference from whenever, while the primary work is not available to the consuming public. Yes, at one time Ortofon has research out there. Harold Weiler had a great approach, that no one has followed up on. Shame.

What we have is opinion. Thoughts and prayers. Guesses. Subjective this and that. We have so little to really go on. But again, every single system is different. No one has the same turntable, with the same cartridge, and in the same alignment and set up, playing the same records. Given that, how do we know what is what unless we look.

That is why I lay out a whole bunch of stuff to narrow the path. But at the end of the day, we have to be willing to get our kit examined to ensure we have not reached that point were the diamond stylus tip, regardless of its shape, is not doing permanent damage to our precious records. And it is for that reason I am not willing to say it is "nonsense" to take the time and resources necessary to have an advanced tip examined for critical stylus wear at 500 hours. Only then can a user know for certain.

Raul, Thank you. I have no emotional attachment to being right here. At the end of the day, I don’t care what other people do to their records.

Yet unlike others who offer free advice, I did do the research to learn for myself what was what. As noted in my piece, I was driven by a desire to do no damage to my records, and obviously to get the best playback my system can deliver. What transpired in my case was confirmation through all the research I had done. Folks today who know, others who work this industry, and people I trust, told me stylus tips do not last as long as these otherwise unsupported claims. They were in fact quite frank that at about 500-600 hours, advanced stylus were worn out, and at least at that point needed to be examined. To make it personal, I learned that my Shibata-tip, a line contact stylus, was "badly worn" at 800 hours. That cartridge had never seen even one revolution on a record that was not first cleaned on a VPI17 or in an ultrasonic tank cleaner. I suspect it was worn at 600 hours to the point where it should have been retipped.

If stylus tips truly last 1,500 to 2,000 hours, all the folks who claim that, please do the necessary research to prove that. This request is simple enough. A friend of mine noticed that my sojourn of discovery left me with a touch of cynicism over any long-life claims. He is correct. Clearly, there are two camps here, one you and I are in where we believe advanced stylus tips have shorter rather than longer lifespans, and the second operating under the assumption that lifespans are 3 to 4 times longer. I’ve laid my cards on the table in as transparent and honest a manner as possible. All I wanted to understand was the truth. The narrative I used walks an interested reader through the research and experiences of others. I interviewed many people, users, cartridge retippers and manufacturers, equipment manufacturers, I looked at the AES entire library for pertinent articles, did a deep dive on many papers written on the subject, I read thousands of posts on the subject.

Now it is time for the long-lifers to show why all that I presented is nonsense. Just saying so does not make it so. They’ll need to lay it out for me, as I have done, and prove it. I’ve learned the hard way that talk is cheap.

Thank you for your interest.

A poster in this thread mentioned Ortofon research on stylus wear pointing to a lifespan of 500 hours. I wanted to follow up on that since I have done some digging.

A friend of mine reminded me about the Vinyl Engine (VE) forum library and its suite of owner’s manuals for many cartridge manufacturers including for Ortofon. A poster on VE ("kuja") put up an image of the pertinent section of an early owner’s manual for an OM30 (The Finish Line For Your Phonograph Stylus... - Page 5- Vinyl Engine ). This stylus has a nude, Fine Line tip shape or line contact shape (see poster Bebé Tonto » 09 Nov 2009 13:19 in Advanced Stylus Shapes: Pics, discussion, patents.- Vinyl Engine ). Also, see Ortofon OM Series for the stylus tip shape for the OM series of cartridges. So I will use that cartridge as a starting point for this discussion.Super Optimal Match 30 is arguably a vintage cartridge since the OM series was originally introduced in the 1980’s replacing the original VMS and F/FF line of cartridges. I owned one, actually, now gone with a Technics SL-1200 turntable I sold in the 1990s. But Music Direct still sells this cartridge: ORTOFON - OM30 MM PHONO CARTRIDGE | Shop Music Direct.

Nonetheless, under the heading "Stylus Care", the original owner’s manual states,

"To maintain optimal sound reproduction and to prevent damage to your records, we recommend that your cartridge be inspected at regular intervals, and at least once a year, at your Ortofon dealer. In the case of stylus wear or damage, replace only with an Ortofon stylus unit of the same type. If you play one LP record per day we recommend you replace the stylus unit after approximately 2 years. Two LP’s per day and you should replace after one year, and if you play 3 LP records a day we recommend that you replace the stylus unit after approximately 9 months."

Taking that advice on replace time, let me make some calculations. Assuming one LP is 40 minutes long, or 20 minutes per side. Playing one LP each day is equivalent to ~730 sides of playback per year. So 730 sides divided by 3 sides per hour of play equals ~243 hours of stylus wear. Doubling annual play to two LPs per day, equals 487 hours of stylus wear. Ortofon in effect is saying a diamond stylus life is approximately 500 hours, maybe a bit less. For completeness, JICO, a stylus tip and cartridge manufacturer has done research that shows by 400 hours a line contact stylus tip will have 3% more distortion than when new. In other well-documented research, the advent of distortion is a key indicator to when to replace a stylus tip or the cartridge (or at least to have it checked) depending on if its a moving coil or moving magnet, respectively.

Ortfon in the owner’s manual goes on:

"Remember to remove dust from the stylus tip before and after each playback using a suitable small brush, which should be guided carefully along the cantilever in the direct of the stylus tip."

This advisory on stylus life and playing on clean records and stylus also appears in the vintage owner’s manuals for the entire OM cartridge series. If you are curious, see the vintage OM30 owner’s manual here: Ortofon OM30 - Manual - Magnetic Stereo Pick-up - Vinyl Engine.

Later Ortofon owner’s manuals completely drop the example of hours of play per day to when the tip is worn out to offering for a time simply "...check your cartridge once a year." I have not worked out the precise timeline for the change in Ortofon’s advice.

More recent Ortofon owner’s manuals even drop that, and offer zero advice on stylus tip life. For example, the Moving Coil 30 (MC30), also a fine line stylus tip just as the OM30, was introduced in the mid-1990s. There is absolutely no mention of stylus life in the original owner’s manual, as seen here: Ortofon MC 30 - Manual - Stereo Moving-Coil Cartridge - Vinyl Engine.

Under FAQ on their website presently, Ortofon advises to check your stylus after 1,000 hours and with great care they last 2,000 hours. See that here under 1.2 Stylus Lifetime: FAQ & Installation.

Back to the poster who noted that "back in the day" Ortofon published data and research on stylus life, while he no longer has that research. The answer in that research was that a stylus life was 500 hours. That research I was not been able to find in preparation for the article Bill published in May and when I asked Ortofon about it they said it was proprietary. That left me somewhat cold as a customer, since I only use Ortfon’s cartridges and have three of them. The message as I took away is consumers cannot have access to Ortofon’s researched best advice.

What I gather is this: from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, Ortofon’s advice to consumers in owner’s manuals themselves evolved from indicating that stylus life was ~500 hours if played on cleaned records and stylus tips, to just check your stylus tip once a year by a brick & mortar shop (specifically an Ortofon dealer), to no advice at all save for maintenance suggestions. Obviously, there are few brick & mortar shops available today to check your stylus tip.

During this same time frame, conventional wisdom on ultimate stylus morphed from 500 hours or less to 1,500 to 2,000 hours, and in some cases even longer. I am not sure how or why that change occurred, but clearly it did. Note, in the 1980s, record sales were massive, but by the late 1990s, labels were loathe to press a vinyl record. Here is the rub, I’ve seen no technical support for these longer lifespans, and I’ve asked more than one adherent to simply show me the data and research proving that diamond tips, particularly advanced shaped tips, last longer than 500 hours.

Absolutely I know some folks simply cannot embrace these lower hours of stylus life, and I have no issues if they believe they last longer. I get it, I entered a state of cognitive dissonance when I was told my Cadenza Black was likely worn out at 500-600 hours. But here is the deal, the onus is on those long lifers to prove their position to me and to other folks.

Bill noted that I am a geologist. Diamonds are the hardest natural material known on earth, appropriately 10 on the Mohs "relative" scale. On an absolute scale, for reference, talc is 1, a ruby is 400 and a diamond is 1500. The hardness of diamond is a vector property, however, depending on the exposed crystal lattice face and also on the number of inclusions or impurities in the diamond. While ruby tips can still be purchased (on ruby verses diamond wear life see a 1954 Harold Weiler article on record and stylus wear), diamonds are the de facto choice today for cartridge stylus tips. I can assure everyone that diamonds have not gotten harder over the last 40 years.