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Ever Damage A Stylus Using Cleaning Brush?

I’m having a moment of audiophile anxiety. Help me Obi Wans of this forum!

I’d been using the DS Audio ST50 gel cleaner for my Benz Micro Ebony L cartridge. Due to recent uncertainties about the possible liabilities of those type of cleaners I bought a carbon fiber stylus brush, from boundlessaudio.

I use the Audio Intelligent cleaning fluid.

Everything has been fine, and I’ve never been sure how much pressure to apply to brushing the needle, so I’ve always tried the lightest touch possible. Sometimes, though, the middle aged hands aren’t as steady and I can give it a bit more pressure than I was planning.

So last night I lifted up the needle mid track to clean the needle. Couple of very light brushes just skimming the bottom of the needle, always back to front of the needle as recommended. With the system still on I can also hear how light or not I’m brushing, hearing the sound coming through the speakers. But the last brush stroke went up a bit higher, slightly submerging more of the stylus giving it a bit of a bump up and a louder sound through the speakers. Didn’t think too much of it. But when I sat back to listen I could swear the sound had altered slightly, like the sound had gotten a tiny bit lightened, brightened, forward vs the "inky black background" I’d just been listening to.

Just how plausible is it that I may have damaged or shifted something in the stylus?

In thinking it through it seems to me if any real force had been applied, since the stylus was not at all locked in to the holder, it would have bounced the arm up somewhat. But didn’t. Second, it seems to me there is at least as much force simply dropping the needle on to the record.

But I could be wrong. And I don’t know if the tonal change was all in my head. (I’m hoping it is...but even listening today I still seem to perceive a slightly different tone).

Any thoughts on this truly First World problem?

 

 

prof

Showing 2 responses by edcyn

edcyn
1,876 posts
 

I leave my tonearm locked with the cuing lever up when I’ve finished listening for the day. There are enough earthquakes in my neck of the woods to keep me sufficiently paranoid.

A back-to-front brushing has never hurt my stylus or cantilever in my sixty-very odd years of spinning discs, no matter how stiff the stylus brush might be. It’s fun, too, to hear the "rriiiipp!" through the speakers as I do this. Just don’t have the volume set too high. Every couple days or so, I wet the stylus with stylus cleaner and sit it down for a few seconds on my "Professional" brand buzz-o-rama battery-powered stylus cleaner. If I feel the need to give my stylus an extra pat on the head I’ll gently stroke it with an artists’ brush. In all my years, I’ve only accidentally ripped the needle/cantelever off a cartridge once or twice.

 

Anyway, I’m sure I’ve mentioned my various snafus before on this website. I’ve had a couple good scares when I’ve clumsily cued the cartridge down at a spot where it falls off the edge of the spinning record. I’m even less happy when I do this on a spinning 7" 45. Will it happily make it into the lead-in groove or will it scoot off onto my SOTA’s hard rubber turntable mat? Then there are the records where the lead-out groove is close enough to the label for the cartridge to scrape/bang against my LP hold-down clamp.

edcyn
1,876 posts
 

audioguy85 -- Love your word processor’s auto-correct feature! And oh yeah, remember to put the dishwasher on pots n’ pans after playing your 78’s.

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