Cleaning your stylus

[Squishman]

How do you guys clean your stylus? I have a Discwasher brand with a tight, short fiber brush on one side and a magnified mirror on the other. Google image below. I have had it for 45+ years. I have put a drop or two of distilled water on it once in a while before using, but I use it dry 99% of the time. One or two pulls with tone arm not locked down after every play, lately after every side. I was looking into solutions and ordered a non-alcohol brand called Last Stylus Cleaner on Amazon. I plan on using one drop about monthly. Letting the fluid sit on the brush for a few seconds beforehand. I did see Zero Dust and similar type goo you dip your stylus into. No thanks. I don't want adhesive on my stylus.

 

[TLS Guy]

How do you guys clean your stylus? I have a Discwasher brand with a tight, short fiber brush on one side and a magnified mirror on the other. Google image below. I have had it for 45+ years. I have put a drop or two of distilled water on it once in a while before using, but I use it dry 99% of the time. One or two pulls with tone arm not locked down after every play, lately after every side. I was looking into solutions and ordered a non-alcohol brand called Last Stylus Cleaner on Amazon. I plan on using one drop about monthly. Letting the fluid sit on the brush for a few seconds beforehand. I did see Zero Dust and similar type goo you dip your stylus into. No thanks. I don't want adhesive on my stylus. View attachment 64823

I use isopropyl alcohol on the stylus brush now and again. With the Dust Bug it stays clean.

 

[highfigh]

How do you guys clean your stylus? I have a Discwasher brand with a tight, short fiber brush on one side and a magnified mirror on the other. Google image below. I have had it for 45+ years. I have put a drop or two of distilled water on it once in a while before using, but I use it dry 99% of the time. One or two pulls with tone arm not locked down after every play, lately after every side. I was looking into solutions and ordered a non-alcohol brand called Last Stylus Cleaner on Amazon. I plan on using one drop about monthly. Letting the fluid sit on the brush for a few seconds beforehand. I did see Zero Dust and similar type goo you dip your stylus into. No thanks. I don't want adhesive on my stylus. View attachment 64823

The stylus cleaner sold by Audio Technica is alcohol- it's not likely to affect the bond between a cantilever and tip.

If you don't use any liquid to clean your LPs, it's not as likely that you'll have any accumulation that needs more than alcohol. The concretions I have seen on stylus tips when them after Discwasher D2, D3 or D4 was used took some time to remove but anything else is much easier to eliminate.

 

[Mikado463]

I think those of us that still play and enjoy LP's all agree, 'cleanliness is next to godliness'. So with keeping the LP's pristine goes a long ways to keeping the stylus clean as well.

 

[Squishman]

I think those of us that still play and enjoy LP's all agree, 'cleanliness is next to godliness'. So with keeping the LP's pristine goes a long ways to keeping the stylus clean as well.

True that. My Dust Bug does a magnificent job at that. But of course my LP's all get cleaned with my Vinyl Vac system upon arrival, even if new.

 

[lovinthehd]

I just use a brush regularly (still have my Discwasher gear too, lol) and maybe some alcohol once in a while, but still rare I play vinyl....clean is fairly necessary with vinyl, tho.

 

[MrBoat]

99% of the contamination on my vinyl is static, especially this time of year. Vinyl is moving further and further down the list of things to do for music, though. If I must spin something physical, it is usually going to be CD, which has been the most notable, audible improvement in my lifetime. Second place likely goes to integration of subwoofers in a 2.1 system. Still like two channel, but with a plus.

Vinyl is a double edged sword of sorts for me. My albums ended up being a source of long term, sentimental association I had not figured on, much of which can set me up for a melancholy mood that is not always good to revisit certain memory lanes with. Not bad, or anything, but often times, I just don't want to feel any kind of reflective way about it in exchange for just wanting to listen.

 

[highfigh]

99% of the contamination on my vinyl is static, especially this time of year. Vinyl is moving further and further down the list of things to do for music, though. If I must spin something physical, it is usually going to be CD, which has been the most notable, audible improvement in my lifetime. Second place likely goes to integration of subwoofers in a 2.1 system. Still like two channel, but with a plus.

Vinyl is a double edged sword of sorts for me. My albums ended up being a source of long term, sentimental association I had not figured on, much of which can set me up for a melancholy mood that is not always good to revisit certain memory lanes with. Not bad, or anything, but often times, I just don't want to feel any kind of reflective way about it in exchange for just wanting to listen.

Static electricity, or surface noise?

 

[MrBoat]

Static electricity, or surface noise?

Either/or? A spin in plain distilled water usually kills it until the next time.

 

[lovinthehd]

Florida and static with that humidity?

 

[davidscott]

Good question. I have a Record Doctor fluid and stylus cleaning brush combo. Also, an AudioQuest record cleaning brush with fluid for cleaning the records. I hardly ever listen to LPs anymore. In fact, it's time to change the belt on my Planar 3 as well as replace the stylus. I have new replacements, so I'll use your post as a reminder.

 

[davidscott]

Florida and static with that humidity?

Running a room dehumidifier and AC pretty much fixes this problem in Florida. In fact, in all my years in DFW I never owned a dehumidifier.

 

[lovinthehd]

Running a room dehumidifier and AC pretty much fixes this problem in Florida. In fact, in all my years in DFW I never owned a dehumidifier.

Fixes or creates the static problem? After I posted was wondering how the almost universal AC there would affect it....

 

[highfigh]

Either/or? A spin in plain distilled water usually kills it until the next time.

How do you remove all of the residue in the groove when distilled water takes so long to evaporate and it's not able to remove anything that's not water-soluble?

I have an Audio Technica record cleaner that's not very different from the Discwasher- I exhale onto the cloth (looks like wide Corduroy) to dissipate static electricity and use nothing else. It does a very good job. I haven't bought more than a few LPs in the last 25 years, but the oldest ones that aren't worn or scratched by former friends and roommates sound really good. I replaced any of them when the surface noise became unbearable. That's tough to do now- I could buy used, but who knows what they went through?

 

[MrBoat]

Florida and static with that humidity?

This time of year it's enough to zap you when going for the handle on the car door when it gets cold out. We get some low humidity spells from about now through March or so. Humidity is pretty mild now compared to August.

 

[davidscott]

Fixes or creates the static problem? After I posted was wondering how the almost universal AC there would affect it....

Don't seem to have any more issues than I had in DFW. But who really knows as I very rarely play any LPs anymore. I don't even play my CDs that much. Mostly streaming. Anyway, Merry Christmas to you and everyone else on this board.

 

[MrBoat]

How do you remove all of the residue in the groove when distilled water takes so long to evaporate and it's not able to remove anything that's not water-soluble?

I have an Audio Technica record cleaner that's not very different from the Discwasher- I exhale onto the cloth (looks like wide Corduroy) to dissipate static electricity and use nothing else. It does a very good job. I haven't bought more than a few LPs in the last 25 years, but the oldest ones that aren't worn or scratched by former friends and roommates sound really good. I replaced any of them when the surface noise became unbearable. That's tough to do now- I could buy used, but who knows what they went through?

I deep cleaned them and now keep them that way. I used wood glue method, which really loads them up with static when you pull the glue off initially until you rinse the static away from them after.

 

[lovinthehd]

Don't seem to have any more issues than I had in DFW. But who really knows as I very rarely play any LPs anymore. I don't even play my CDs that much. Mostly streaming. Anyway, Merry Christmas to you and everyone else on this board.

I haven't had much in the way of air conditioning for much of my adult life, use a portable in recent years to take the edge off when it gets hot here, tho it hasn't yielded any static issues.....

Happy holidaze everyone!

 

[highfigh]

I haven't had much in the way of air conditioning for much of my adult life, use a portable in recent years to take the edge off when it gets hot here, tho it hasn't yielded any static issues.....

Happy holidaze everyone!

Static electricity isn't a problem in places where the humidity is higher but in the Great White North of the US and Canada, cranking up the heat during Winter drops the indoor humidity to the point where it can arc a couple of inches and that's just great when approaching a light switch....yeah, just great.

I screwed a 100K resistor to my equipment rack so I could discharge the static before touching anything during the coldest months.

 

[MrBoat]

Happy holidaze everyone!

Same to you.