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Koetsu Rosewood - Best/safest way to clean stylus

I have a Koetsu Rosewood Signature and have been cleaning the stylus using LAST (I think that is the brand) liquid with a brush, followed by using the cueing to drop the needle onto a Magic Eraser 4-5 times. I think this works pretty well, but I worry about the liquid... having read about liquid wicking up the cantilever, etc.

Could using liquid damage the cartridge? Could dropping the cueing down onto the Magic Eraser "grab" the needle and damage the suspension as I raise it? It seems like the only safe way to use Magic Eraser because I don't trust my hands to be steady enough to do it any other way.

Is there another cleaning method that has actually been proven (via microscope) to clean the needle safely and be safe for the cartridge?

Thanks
montaldo
cleeds
6,093 posts
 
slaw
While it doesn’t keep me up at night, I have wondered about the pos/neg effects of an US stylus cleaner?
The positive effects are that it gets your stylus super, squeaky clean. That same stylus vibrates when it's playing an LP, which I think it can't distinguish from the electronic cleaner. I'll stop using it if I ever discover any negative effects, but that hasn't happened yet after decades of periodic use.
fjn04
1,561 posts
 
I will ad one little tidbit to lewm’s Magic Eraser suggestion. The ME square is so light, and when lifting stylus with Q-lever it may lift the ME itself slightly because of friction. Just to give the ME square some weight to it,I cut a horizontal slit in the center, and insert a quarter. Obviously try to leave some depth between the top of the ME sponge so quarter is still a good distance (1/3 "?) from your stylus.
montaldo OP
203 posts
 
Fjn04... I was kinda thinking the opposite -- that it might be better to give the ME less inertia, not more. If the stylus sticks due to friction I am guessing it would be less damaging if the ME lifted slightly rather than presenting an immovable anchor while the cueing lifts up... Because then the only thing that can give is the cantilever/suspension. 

But there is a limit to my approach too. We would not want a small piece of ME to lift up and twist or turn, thereby damaging the cantilever. Maybe there is an optimum mass of ME that allows some "lift" without allowing the whole ME pad to shift around. Just hypothesizing here of course.


slaw's avatar
slaw
22,694 posts
 
@cleeds,

IMO, the US seems a safer/more effective alternative to the ME.
luxmancl38
580 posts
 
DS Audio ST-50 get cleaner. Use it on my Dynavector 20XL2. Expensive but you can clean it an reuse it over and over.
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