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
Some time ago J. Carr explained difference bewteen cantilever
materials. The (only?) advantage of aluminum cantilevers is
that stylus can be pressure fitted in. In ''all exotic kinds'' the 
stylus must be glued in. By those one must avoid fluid cleaning
obviously because of fear for disolving the glue. Those who ''know better'' and still use fluid should not complain. 
This is the advice that is given and I only used a dry brush. However the glue they are using is undoubtedly a cross linking resin of some sort like epoxy which once cured will not dissolve in any common solvent. UV can attack it but that takes decades if not centuries. 
Terrible event/anecdote.

O.P., I hope you get this fixed promptly & inexpensively.
@desktopguy, the new cartridge arrives tomorrow by FedX along with a shipping label for the broken unit. Cost to me = ZERO!