I got a stylus cleaning kit for, but---------
Mike, many of us here use the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser as our preferred stylus cleaner. I no longer use anything else but a dry brush following use of teh Magic Eraser. See: http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?eanlg&1182379090 . |
I third the ME, and seem to recall it was Doug Deacon who introduced us all to it? I prefer to follow the ME with a 'dunk' or two in the ONZO Zero-dust to remove debris. I used to use a dry camel hair brush afterward (before the ONZO came out), but if I can't see where the bristles are going, it makes me a little nervous. I suppose it depends on how 'naked' the cartridge is ;-) I recently posted something about avoiding liquid stylus cleaners for the reasons you mentioned; but I forgot to include liquid stylus 'conditioners' (StyLast) for the same reasons. Noise is always on the record, not the stylus! If a new/mint record has been cleaned of any mold release, yet still plays noisy, try an enzyme cleaner like Bugtussel. If that doesn't help, then it may be a mint record all right, but so old that the volatile resins and oils in the vinyl have literally evaporated. Under a microscope, such a record has a surface that looks like the cracks in a dry riverbed. Last Record Preservative will replenish the lost volatile substances (and this is the ONLY time I would use it.) The Last won't repair these microscopic cracks, but will cause the vinyl to swell, closing them up, and reducing the surface noise considerably. . |
