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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
whart's avatar
whart
3,050 posts
 
Keep in mind that those needle drops may leave a click in the record (even when the stylus/cantilever is fine, that's a risk, unless you are dead-eye on the space between tracks). Thom/Galibier explained the issue very clearly in terms of the skew of the motor assembly; his point re the condition of the stylus itself is a good one. The angled cantilever is a little like having a misaligned drive shaft between your motor and the differential/wheels. If it isn't straight on, when running the road (grooves) it isn't going to behave smoothly. And could result in mistracking and explain why you lost signal in one channel. 
It's all good to experiment and have fun but I'd be cautious about damaging your records. I also don't know anything about the quality of replacement stylus assemblies, such as those sold by 3d parties. @chakster would be your man among others on that question. Good luck!
hauie88 OP
23 posts
 
@whart got it thanks for that. So do you always play your records from the first track only?
whart's avatar
whart
3,050 posts
 
@hauie88--Nope. Back in the day, I often only listened to a selected track or two from an album, then flipped to something else. I was pretty careful to drop in the dead space between tracks, but I'm human and that's an imperfect process. 
These days I do tend to listen to full sides, particularly since a lot of what I've been listening to is '70s spiritual or soul jazz and some of the tracks can take up a whole side. I will still, on occasion, do a needle drop of single track though. (I've become less dogmatic about a lot of things in my dotage). 
My concern was exacerbated by the problem(s) with your cartridge--not just aiming, but the potential for mistracking and needle dropping with a skewed cantilever could make matters worse in terms of damage to the record. 
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
the skewed cantilever will not significantly increase record wear but the azimuth error sure will. The diamond is pointed in the wrong direction!!
I explained the damage this will cause above. The cartridge will sound fine with a replacement stylus. So, go here https://www.lpgear.com/ and see if they have a replacement for it. Check out the cost and tell us what you find.
chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
You will not find genuine Pickering replacement for your XSV/5000 cartridge, this cartridge is extremely rare and genuine stylus is very hard to find. Do not buy fake styli, the goal of the original is Stereohedron MKII stylus profile and Samarium Cobalt Magnet!

Regarding position of the cantilever please look at my image of XSV/4000.

Stereohedron stylus was manufactured by Expert Stylus & Cartridge Co in United Kingdom for Stanton/Pickering. Now same company is a re-tipping/refurbishing service. Because Stereohedron was Stanton’s Patent the new stylus from Expert Stylus & Co. called Paratrace. If you want to refurbish Pickering/Stanton then Expert Stylus in UK is what you need! 

Contact info for you: 

Expert Stylus & Cartridge Co
info@expertstylus.co.uk 

Last time I contacted them in 2016 and it was Julia Thompson (Client Liaison).
She was very quick with replies by email 




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