When to change a cartridge?

@viridian - great article, thanks.  Guess I will retip 500-700 hours, Soundsmith carts looking economically better.

The real credit for that work is due to Mike Bodell, who wrote the piece and did all the research. I just served as editor/publisher. I learned a few things in the process. I now keep track of stylus usage with a simple click counter (of course, Mike turned me onto a very well made vintage unit). Clean records go a long way.

Incremental degradation is not apparent. I liken it to sneakers (or British "trainers"). You don’t realize they have lost their "bounce" until you put a fresh pair on. (Maybe it’s a dumb analogy). I think Mike mentions a reader who said his stylus was well past the normal conservative threshold and thought it still sounded fine, but then decided to send it out for a retip, and was pleasantly surprised by how much better it sounded after it was refreshed.

I keep an eye on the stylus just for basic cleanliness and straightness of the cantilever-using relatively low magnification. I’m not really qualified to examine stylus wear under a microscope, so have used various retipping services, including those of the manufacturer (who will often replace, or rebuilt entirely rather than just replace the diamond and clean up the cartridge innards).

I gather that the micro ridge type has a pretty hard limit at around 1,000 hours-- and that it should not be used after that. I had an Airtight Supreme done with that stylus shape, keeping the original cantilever. I had one Koetsu rebuilt by the factory before they went defunct. And have had a few others over the years- trade ups with Lyra, a rebuild by Van den Hul, etc.

I thought Mike did a great job in addressing the issue and called for more transparency within the industry about realistic wear/life, rather than quoting the absolute outer limit for a cartridge to function. Kudos to him!

advanced stylus shapes discussion with drawings and pics from Vinyl Engine

https://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=22894&sid=2609e09036be7bf0768b78897f2c0219

whart, thank you for your clear write-up. I hate to be the "real-world guy," but looking into VAS for retipping they quote four to eight weeks, with shipping probably more like six to ten weeks. I would not be able to tell if the retipped stylus sounded better after that amount of time, especially since my ear would have gotten used to my Clearaudio Maestro over that waiting time. I'm not at all denying that you are correct. In fact, I believe you are correct. 

In my mind as an audiophile with a budget, the question would be how much better. For example I use Audioquest cables. Not their most expensive. In the middle of their line. I have no doubt that if I replaced my cables with high-end Nordost my system would sound better. But how much better at what cost? Of course, retipping my stylus would only be about $500, so we're not in Nordost territory. Just an example. 

Anyway, you and others have convinced me to have my EMT retipped. Thank you for the well thought out explanation.

elliottnewcombjr, thank you for that great diagram. It made the point clearly.