Koetsu Rosewood - Best/safest way to clean stylus

Simply dipping the ME in/out may not be enough. Between listening sessions, I will dip (using cueing lever) into a corner of a cut piece of ME and then - with the stylus remaining dipped in the ME - carefully *rotate* back & forth around the stylus as the center of rotation. Use only 1 finger to push for the rotation, from alternating sides. Total range of rotation is around 60 to 90 degrees for each cycle. When you’re done, sometimes the ME will slightly stick as you cue up; gently push down on the ME to clear it off. Sound scary? It was to me at first, too. I’ve used this method on my Coralstone for two years now; stylus and cantilever still gleam like brand new. I’m using the same method on my new Blue Lace Diamond. It’s the best. Far better than an Onzow. I guarantee the stylus and cantilever/suspension are subjected to stronger forces during the course of playing records. 

Use a long-bristle dry brush on the stylus after every ME application, to remove any lingering fibers. I much prefer long bristle brushes (about 1cm) over the little short bristle "pads" because I can get at the stylus from many different angles (e.g. using an orthogonal brushing motion with a few bristles, the bristles have more brushing power - versus simply parting the bristles with the stylus). Carefully clean off the TOP of the cantilever with a small subset of bristles, all up and down, each session. You don’t want crap encrusting the top of your cantilever over time. In general, brush off anywhere dust/detritus kicked up from the record can accumulate. Also I use the dry brush on the stylus after *every* LP side.

You won’t need any liquid, ever, with the above regimen. The boron cantilever Koetsus do use some glue, which might potentially be susceptible to some liquids.

And you want the original flat rectangular all-white ME, no blue pad (that has the cleaning chemicals), not 2x or 4x tougher, etc.

My Magic Eraser gets stuck to stylus about half the time I do my thing. I use a small cut-off piece with no appreciable mass, so to kick it off with a gentle downward nudge means no harm done. The key is to keep forces below what the stylus/cantilever would encounter during normal playback. When you ham-fist it, or your cleaning lady goes to town with a duster - those forces are orders of magnitude greater than any of these normal cleaning forces, and THAT’s what it takes to truly destroy the cartridge. The abrasion of the ME isn’t going to do jack to the diamond, or even glue/metal, except polish it. All you need to worry about is the pulling/pushing forces involved, which is small even for a careful "rough" cleaning. And the original ME is also very compliant, which means there's some absorption of the forces involved. 

The way some of you guys think, I’m surprised you even play vinyl at all for fear of damaging your stylus. You ever drop on the long lead-in groove on a 12" 45, and see what kind of forces that involves? Yikes.