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Diamond Stylus Enters the 4th Dimension

So, I went to play a Chet Baker Album last night. Lowered the arm, flipped og the mute switch and.......GARBAGE!

The cantilever looked fine. On examination with my USB microscope I confirmed a sullen fact. The diamond had gone AWOL. There is just a little glue left on the end of the cantilever which is completely undamaged. It is a Clearaudio Charisma cartridge.

Anyone ever have this happen? I played records the day before no problem. I did not take anything to the stylus brush or otherwise. I do use an Audio Technica tonearm lift but it's trigger mechanism is so light. I can't believe that did it and it certainly should not do it. IMHO the cantilever should break before the diamond gets knocked off. 

The cartridge is four months old and I got it from Elusive Disc. It has a two year warranty. Here is where the rubber hits the road. 
128x128mijostyn
elliottbnewcombjr
5,473 posts
 
Seems like a bad glue job, 4 months of vibrations shook it loose.  Nice it has a warranty, could have happened 1 month after warranty expired, like several of my Sony cameras!

A NUDE diamond is a whole miniature diamond, inserted or glued to the cantilever.

Some are a smaller diamond tip glued to the bottom of something that is itself inserted or glued to the cantilever. that’s two opportunities for glue to go wrong.


noromance's avatar
noromance
9,829 posts
 
That bites. Happened me with a rare Decca Grey Garrott Bros. But I had manage to send it bouncing across a record. Funny that I didn't know the diamond had been ripped off leaving a naked clasp like an empty engagement ring. The metal prong played reasonably well but with some noise. 
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn OP
8,570 posts
 
Right. In this case the diamond is glued to the very end of the cantilever. All high performance cartridges use a nude diamond now. Many are pushed into a hole in the cantilever. This is not possible with boron. It is too brittle.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn OP
8,570 posts
 
@noromance I'm pretty sure that could not be good for your records. I always keep my lift up when not in play so I can't inadvertently do that. 
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn OP
8,570 posts
 
@lalitk I do believe the importer is Musical Surroundings. I've never heard of Charisma Audio.
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