Buying a used cartridge...tell us your tale.

Wow, Peter. Ignorance is no excuse for a ripoff -- shame on that seller!

I've bought and sold used a number of times now -- some pretty high-price
cartridges, too (e.g. Koetsu). All transactions thus far have been flawless. The
used cartridges I've received have been free of any meaningful defect, sound
great, and seem to have lots of life left as advertised. Though to be fair, I think
I'm nearing an end of my cartridge gambling days.

Here's an article on the subject of stylus wear.

Analog Planet

Good listening and Happy New Year

Peter

Thanks, Peter. That is an interesting article from MF. I am curious as to when the actual onset of wear will occur on the record in relation to the wear pattern on the diamond. The conventional thinking is that the wear will be severe on the LP when the wear on the diamond is as shown in the examples by amhifi and Kharma. OTOH, I would suspect that the shape of the stylus has something to do with the shape that is seen under the microscope...in relation to the supposed wear pattern. The idea of listening for wear that MF brings up, makes a lot of sense to me. The 'crackling' that he was talking about would be a definite red flag. I wonder what other red flags there are?? Only problem is that by the time you hear the red flag...I suspect it's too late!!

I've got one cartridge with a worn stylus that renders some minor but audible distortion on the inner-most grooves -- that's definitely where you'll notice issues first. To be honest, it still sounds awesome on the outer and middle grooves. But obviously it's high time for a re-tip, and I don't play it since I noticed the issue. Unknown hour count on this one, but I absolutely knew it was high up there when I acquired it (early 1990's Koetsu).

I've rotated through a lot of cartridges over 7 years, and I haven't put enough on any 1 cart (~ 400 hours max) to drive it into audible wear. So I've never encountered any issues besides on that one.

Buying a used cartridge is always a stupid move.