Liquid Stylus Cleaners

Anecdotally, I had a stylus that had less than 200 hours on it, and I used to Onzow Zerodust regularly.  One channel simply went out on the cartridge, and apparently somehow some wire in the left channel in the MC above the cantilever was simply broken.  I really have no idea what caused it, but since then, I stopped using the Onzow. 

I had always (past 25 years) used a short stiff bristle brush and occasionally, after 6 - 8 LP's, a drop of Disc Doctor fluid, no problem.

A few months ago I did another cartridge upgrade to a quite expensive ($3600) new cartridge, which I am very happy with. I decided to make a inquiry to the maker. I received a reply in about 6 hours, quote his reply here.

"The cartridge needs no maintenance except for occasional cleaning of the stylus tip. Use a soft stylus brush to brush only from back to front in order to avoid damage. If a deposit appears on the stylus tip, use a small quantity of alcohol and distilled water mixed half and half."

So, that is what I do.

Ice never used this and don’t plan on it:

https://www.analogplanet.com/content/time-put-away-onzow-zerodust

I use a tiny drop of Stylast on a fine artist’s sable size 0 or 00 brush, when required. As I clean all my records on a Keith Monks RCM, I only need to wet clean the stylus rarely. Wet clean the records and the stylus keep clean.

Never tried a liquid product, but I’ve been using the Onzow pad for quite a while now and am very satisfied with results. Amazing what this thing can pull off of a stylus, even after playing a cleaned lp.. and I use the the magnifier to see before and after. I use a variety of contemporary and mid-50’s cartridges/stilli and it cleans them all perfectly.. when reproduction starts sounding like crap, this will pull off even the odd dust hair and restore clarity. I use it before each play and during play as needed. I wash it after each session.