Analog maintenance

One more bit of advice. After using a solvent type cleaner on your stylus, wait just a bit before actually playing the record to allow the cleaner some time to evaporate and any glue that might be softened to harden up again.

The Lyra people recommend waiting at least 10 seconds after using their cleaner before playing a record.

If you are picking up groove dust after using the VPI, it may be coming from old inner sleeves. I recommend you buy rice paper sleeves and change out the old sleeve after cleaning your record. Also, I like multi step cleaning systems like Lloyd Walker's Prelude System. It's a bit more time consuming, but once cleaned, it will be a long time before you will have to do it again. You will get improved sonics and cleaner grooves. I used the solid stylus cleaner you are using years ago under a different brand name. It is supoose to last forever and it is suppose to be cleanable. I found it lost its tack after one cleaning and was of no use thereafter.

I follow a similar path as you, though for my final step I do use a static eliminator device, the Walker Audio Talisman. I also will second Elinor's advise of switching to the rice paper sleeves.

Cheers,
John

John, I forgot to mention that I use the Walker Talisman as well. I think the perceived effectiveness of it will depend upon the resolution of the sytem in which it is used.

Good suggestion to go right from your record cleaning machine into a new rice paper sleeve.

I think you should seriously consider using Magic Eraser to clean your stylus instead of the gel goop. There are many reasons why.
1)dirt gets transferred to the gel, so over time you are dipping into a dirtier "cleaner".
2)Depending on shape of your cantilever, gel can get deposited there and buildup.
3)Magic Eraser safely cleans your stylus much more effectively, and you can see & hear the difference(plus it is so cheap, it's almost free).
I switched from the gel goop to Magic Eraser a few years ago, and couldn't be happier w/it. Same results for many hear. Search the archives for details.

One other thing I use that's kinda neat is the AcousTech giant-sized carbon fibre brush(w/grounding wire). It quickly allows me to remove the stray dog hair, etc. from LP with one swipe. I do this last after using a Walker Talisman. Cheers,
Spencer