OK, record is now clean, how about the Stylus?

Cleaning the stylus twice for playing an album is *very* excessive. Unless your records are incredibly grimy, you can easily go 5-10 albums before cleaning again. This will cut your costs dramatically and your stylus will stay plenty clean. Your current regimen is very wasteful, time consuming, and costly...

I worked for several hi-end shops back in the late 70s, early 80s. I played a lot of records. I also looked at a lot of stylii under a microscope to see their condition and whether they needed cleaning - this is how I developed my 5-10 albums cleaning regimen. As I said before, unless your records are absolutely filthy (no way, right?), you are over-cleaning.

-RW-

>> Oh! So you're one of those sons of b****s that sold us that crap that clogged our records and stylii. And, when did you say before? <<

Huh? Not sure what you are saying here, please explain. I sold expensive cartridges and gear to clean them. We usually used the SC-2 fluid from DiscWasher to clean the stylus. It did the job.

>> It's not always what you see on the stylus, but rather what you don't see build up on the stylus.<<

You are wrong. What you see is *everything*. Keep in mind that I used a microscope when looking at the stylii - you can see *everything* on the stylus when doing so. And I'm telling you that you can play 5-10 albums before seeing any build-up on the stylus.

And we were certainly using stylii that reached down deep in the grooves.

You might comsider reading your posts before submitting them, some passages are incoherent...

-RW-

Oh, I'm not upset, this isn't life or death after all. I just wish that folks would present some reasonable basis for opinions besides "I believe" or "I feel". Beliefs or feelings have nothing to do with the cleanliness of your stylus.

It is quite simple to *see* if your stylus needs to be cleaned, a 40x - 100x microscope will do it every time. You can also check wear patterns which would help in achieving perfect stylus alignment. Everyone should take the opportunity to see their stylus like this, it's very cool.

Just to keep the pot stirred, did you also know that you shouldn't play a given track on a record twice in succession because of groove deformation from the diamond being dragged thru the plastic? You see, there's this little spec. called the "modulus of elasticity" for vinyl...

Best Wishes,

-RW-

>> You may want to read some archived threads about the Mr Clean ME if you haven't...<<

I haven't read the archived threads. However, several years ago, I purchased some ME from the local grocery store and shipped it to one of our UK-based members at his request. I then did some investigating on this matter.

My conclusion? I wouldn't use it. The DiscWasher SC-2 does a fine job of cleaning the stylus and I see no reason to use anything else. The ME may work as well or better, I do not know. I do know that the SC-2 does the job and the bottle I have will probably last the rest of my life.

Looking back, my comment about the expense is really not important, both methods are cheap enough. But keep in mind, the more you handle the stylus, the better the chance that you will damage or ruin the stylus. If you can limit your cleaning routine to 1/10th that of someone else - AND STILL HAVE A CLEAN STYLUS - you have 1/10th the chance of buggering your stylus.

Yes, I have buggered a stylus or two in my day. I was NEVER very happy afterwards...

-RW-

>> Why wait till it's gummed up? And there is a good probability that there is stuff there that you can't see even with your microscope. <<

Ok, Dan, for your edification, I'm going to type this VERY slowly so even you can understand it. Obviously, you have never looked at a stylus under a 'scope. Because, if you had, you'd know how silly your statement was. If you're stylus is dirty, or not, you will KNOW by looking under a microscope. How do you KNOW now if you got it clean? You don't, do you? You "feel" it's clean, or you "believe" it's clean.

Please, do not respond with some snmart-aleck comment, get a microscope and LOOK.

If you want to willy-nilly dip your stylus every 25 minutes in a product that wasn't made for that purpose because you "believe" it works - go for it! These are my last words on the subject...

-RW-

Despite my earlier promise to walk away from this one, well here I go....

Dan_Ed, I was not the one who "came out swinging". I believe that was you - read your first post to me, you called me a son of a bitch. If that isn't coming out swinging, I don't know what is.

I simply related my experience. I never once impugned your ancestry or made any rash commnents towards you. I did criticize a cleaning regimen that I think is excessive. After that, you started "swinging" and made it personal. Shame on you.

Calm down, clean a record - and your stylus - slap it on your 'table and chill out, dude....

-RW-