Cleaning Phono Stylus- white residue

Brian- even a cheap jeweler's loupe should give you the magnification you need. You can buy one on Amazon. I'd keep any liquids away from the cantilever, cartridge underbody or suspension. If you have a dry brush, like a small painter's brush, see if you can't remove the dust from the cartridge housing using that; then use one of those stiffer stylus brushes (or ME, if you are inclined, but I'd dip, not scrape~ you should read up on using ME as a stylus cleaner before you deploy b/c it is basically a bunch of tiny fibers and you don't want to snag your stylus/cantilever in it and you still need to brush afterwards to remove any residue from the ME). I've gotten away from using liquid stylus cleaners and just use dry methods, but each to their own- Lyra obviously believes they are ok, and I used its stylus liquid when I ran their cartridges without a problem. I never used the RRL liquid- one concern I'd have is if the stylus is already dirty, whether applying a liquid to it would make it worse. I guess you should take a close look and try some dry cleaning first, in any case, no?

+1 to Whart's comments. Good post.

Man, do I have a tone of it right now, the result of months. I only clean it when the cart is out of the arm, sitting upside down, under bright light, with a tiny brush and toothpick with alcohol on it, very carefully!

I do not use usually use liquids on stylii, I do not use those sticky things, just the little stylus brushes with some alcohol if something on the stylus is stubborn. After 1000 hours the stylus still gleams under 400 power magnification, so my occasional brushes with the stylus brush, and very occasional use of alcohol on the short stiff brush (as opposed to dripping liquid on those longer applicator brushes) is sufficient. And safe!

I use liquid very sparingly..maybe once or twice a year. I use a combo of a traditional stylus brush, ME for serious cleaning. I use Onzow every record change(after two sides). If you keep up with regular cleaning, crud will not build up. I use liquid via a drop or two on a flat stylus brush and do my best to avoid the cantilever assembly the few times I use it throughout the year. A 10x loupe is useful for checking the cleanliness.

I use an 8x photography loupe. The magnification is just right for assessing how clean or gummed up the stylus is. When I first checked the stylus under the loupe I couldn't even see the stylus for all the gunk and fuzz that had *bonded* to it.

The stylus moving through the groove generates a lot of heat and fuses the resulting gunk to the diamond. A soft stylus brush can't dislodge this bonded sludge and fuzz. A cleaning liquid would have to be a strong solvent that could melt through and dislodge all of the gunk. I didn't want to deal with a solvent that strong and risk it wicking up the cantilever into the cartridge.

Enter the Magic Eraser, which I cut into individual 1"x2" cleaning blocks. I don't just dip the stylus into the Eraser block; I use it to brush the stylus from back to front, making sure I don't go front to back or side to side. Then I checked my progress with the 8x loupe.

It worked! The diamond shone through clean dn clear. The ME leaves some of its own white powder behind, so I whisk away the residual abrasive powder with a soft stylus brush.

I have been doing this for six years. I got five years out of my first AT150MLX stylus and am now a 1-1/2 years into my second. I clean the stylus after every 2-3 record sides. It provides easy and effective cleaning and I've had no damage to stylus, cantilever, or LP.