How to clean Karat 17D3 stylus?


I need your help.

I recently got this cartridge and would like to know, from those who either own or have owned one of these in the past, how you go about cleaning the stylus.  

Thank you.

 

Mamoru

128x128audiodwebe
Thanks, guys. I’ve always used a brush followed by a liquid cleaner but I’ve read that you have to be careful with any liquid as if it gets on the rubber support it can harden and damage over time. I never realized just how tiny the stylus were on these things. A microscope would be nice but I don’t have one.

@czarivey 

I blow on it

I highly recommend you do not do that. Peter Lederman of Soundsmith has said blowing on your stylus/cantilever can result in small particles of saliva build-up that attracts dust and can become hardened 'gunk'. They see this all the time when cartridges are sent for repair.

If you need to 'blow' on the stylus, get a handheld blow/bulb that photographers use, as example.

Audioquest make or made a device that provides a tiny circular pad upon which you sit the stylus tip. Then you press a button and the pad vibrates at something like 400-500Hz, to loosen any particles that may be adherent. It's very effective, especially for dust balls that may work themselves up into the body of a cartridge. Over the decades, the device has been marketed under the "Signet" brand and lately under the "Audioquest" brand, and maybe some others. I have seen both brand names on different samples of the identical device. You can probably buy it from Music Direct or some such mail order company.

@bkeske I make sure I get really drunk before I do that. This way I blow alcohol over :)

I really use a typical baby bulb syringe