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Ugh....dropped the stylus on the platter

I was adjusting my turntable level which somehow was slightly out of level and the cue lever was down and arm resting on arm rest. The arm rest has a small magnet that is supposed to keep it there, as there is no locking mechanism. Any how somehow the tonearm fell off the rest and bounced across the non moving platter and leather mat coming to rest near spindle. This is a moving coil sumiko blue point no 2. So,  I took a look and listen and it seems ok to me, but being anal about my audio and system I cant but help stressing over it and thinking I damaged something....in 30 plus years this is the first time I’ve done this...lesson learned I guess, as next time I will ty wrap the darn arm to the rest when making adjustments.
128x128audioguy85
audioguy85's avatar
audioguy85 OP
1,989 posts
 
Noromance, lmao! 
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,161 posts
 
Wanna see something reeeeeally scary? Put a Koetsu Rosewood in a Transcriptors Vestigial tonearm and watch it pogo back and forth across the record at 30 Hz. 
browndt
97 posts
 
If you really want to be certain send it to Soundsmith to be examined and aligned if necessary. Soundsmith has the best cartridge repair service in the USA.  Also I will not buy a cartridge from a company that cannot fix a problem like yours quickly and
inexpensively.  Almost all styli need realignment from time to time anyway.

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cleeds
5,642 posts
 
browndt
... Almost all styli need realignment from time to time anyway ...
Will you please tell us what cartridges you've owned that led you to this conclusion? What kind of pickup arm did you have them installed in?
slimpikins5's avatar
slimpikins5
191 posts
 
I whacked the tonearm once off to the side of the rest with the cue lever down.... the stylus hit the edge of the record, then bounced in towards the label.  Nice going.     It bent the beryllium cantilever off center about 2 degrees.  I played it and everything sounded as good as usual, but it disturbed me that the diamond was not tracking as it should per specification.

I called Peter at Soundsmith, he told me don't try to fix something which is not broken as it's still playing.  The best way to deal with it would be to twist the cartridge body slightly of axis so that the cantilever would be tracking straight in the grooves.  I thought this was a great idea, but the better choice would be to just replace the stylus, which I did.  I keep the 'bent' one in stock as a just in case back up.


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