Ugh....dropped the stylus on the platter

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.

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?

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.

Just to make your feel better...

i had saved for a long time to buy a big upgrade in my turntable - found a Transrotor Fat Bob S and the owner “threw in” a brand new Benz Micro Ebony cartridge for very little money. That cartridge was a far better cartridge than I could normally afford so I was very chuffed. Had to spend at least a month constructing a new rack space and isolation platform until I could finally even set it up. Just before I left on a vacation, the night before, I got my first brief listen to the new set up and was in heaven.

Came home from vacation all ready to have some real time with the new vinyl rig, went to put on a record and...noticed the cartridge was now hanging off the arm at some crazy odd angle!! What the possible f#ck????

How??? Why???

Turned out the cleaning lady had made a visit while we were gone.

I talked to her and she said, yeah she was cleaning around that big new shiny thing, reached over and heard a “big bang” then noticed “that skinny silver part was hanging off now.” Of course a cloth she was carrying had hooked on the end of the arm whipping it off and dislodging the cartridge.

You wanna talk heartbreak!

All said and done, fortunately the cartridge seemed to have survived. The arm..not as much.

As anyone with a nice turntable knows, cleaning staff are The Antichrist to turntables.