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Off center (not bent!) stylus?

Relative newbie here - just looking for some thoughts / experiences from all you resident experts. 

I have been buying used carts for my vintage setup exclusively. It certainly seems like every stylus is not perfectly parallel with the cantilever and always seems to lean ever so slightly to one side or another. Seems like new ones can be like this too. So I assume a bit of a lean is normal / not an issue.

My question is, is there a limit to this? Can a more extremely off center stylus cause problems in sound quality / record damage? Could it be a sign that the stylus / cantilever assembly is about to fail? Or is it more a matter of if you don’t hear anything wrong don’t sweat it.

Here are some pics of what I’m talking about:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/m2m9FhU9VumD6uss6
https://photos.app.goo.gl/kMLyfhba4pFxKMGJ7

Again I don’t see any visible bend or kink in the stylus. The stylus itself is straight but i comes out of the cantilever at an angle. 

Any experiences (positive, negative or neutral) with this? 

Thanks in advance!

Hauie
hauie88
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
Ask Julia if they can repair your cartridge with their Paratrace stylus on different (new) aluminum cantilever. 

Stereohedron stylus was designed after Quadrahedron and it’s much better than Quadrahedron. Then there was Stereohedron mkII. 

XSV/5000 is much better cartridge/stylus than older XSV/3000. The closest to XSV/5000 is XSV/4000.
The original stylus I have is Stereohedron type. 

They are all comes with brush (brush is removable).

hauie88 OP
23 posts
 
@chakster Gotcha, thanks for that - will look for a 4000 then. 

Regarding Expert Stylus Co., when I asked if they had any replacements or if I could get one custom made, Julia told me that "the suspension of the assembly is faulty. We are unable to repair this particular fault and no longer have any of this particular model in stock."

She later added "We do not have any (other) assemblies ourselves that would fit your cartridge." 
 
Have you asked them to make a custom stylus assembly before? And for Stanton / Pickering models? Or did they replace your cantilever and stylus on an otherwise functional assembly?
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
No, I ask them for repair and retip, but I ended up getting the original replacement. 
Probably they can do retip on original cantilever, but your situation is different since the suspension was damaged. 
Anyway, I think it’s nearly impossible to find an original D4000 stylus, I have one spare.
hauie88 OP
23 posts
 
Yeah I hear you will just have to be patient. You're not selling yours are you?
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