Off center (not bent!) stylus?

Wow. This is really sad. Why anyone wants to get into analog with so much screwy advice. Really.

The tone arm pivots. That’s the whole point of bearings, to let the arm swing freely. Incredibly low friction. That is why the arm will swing towards the center - UNLESS we counteract the skating force with an equally strong outward pushing ANTI-skating force.

Now at this point, please, step away from the keyboard, go and look at your tone arm. Put it down on the lead-in groove of a record. A STATIONARY record. Now very gently with your finger push the head shell just a teeny tiny little bit towards the outside. That is an exaggerated anti-skating force.

And it really, really pains me to have to point this out but look- which way is the cantilever bent? Eh? To the left.  Exactly the opposite of what mijostyn said. You push out, cantilever bends in. Which way is the OPs cantilever bent? To the right. Exactly wrong Mike. Geez and after I bothered to tell the guy it was a mistake, and try and make you come off like a guy who might have a clue. Oh well. Blew your own cover. Don’t look at me.

MC, mijostyn opined the damage was done by no anti-skating. Not too much.

I wouldn't play a record with a cantilever canted that much. Out of curiosity @millercarbon, do you own a Soundsmith cartridge? I know you cite to him constantly but have you ever even talked to the man?
I suspect if you sent that pic to Soundsmith they would tell you it's too far gone. Since it is apparently a user replaceable stylus, what's the cost? Are they still made? I remember the cartridges from that era and they certainly didn't come out of the box looking that way. There are any number of reasons why that thing is skewed. 

Millercabon you are doing a great job of demonstrating your own ignorance. You are making yourself the laughing stock of this web site.

@whart I actually did put in a question to soundsmith with the same pics so hopefully will hear back from them too. 

And yes the stylus assembly is replaceable but this is a really rare cartridge and the original needle seems even more rare.

Which relates to my above question - how much of a difference is there between original vs replacement styli for vintage carts?

More specifically, is a replacement stylus basically going to have a completely different character than the original? (Kind of like how certain lines of carts have use the same cart body just with different needle types)

Is it better to try to get an old stylus retipped by someone like Soundsmith? Would that sound more true to the original than buying a replacement from a place like LPGear?

Generally, how responsible is the cart for sound reproduction vs the stylus? If I keep the cart and use a replacement stylus am I actually “hearing” that vintage cart? Or am I fooling myself?

Thanks!