2. analog
  3. 1016033447

best way to clean Grado Sonata

What is the best way to clean a Grado Sonata cartridge stylus?
Grado recommends no liquids of any sort, is there a good vibrating scrubber or something along this line?

By the way my LP12/300B/Grado combo smokes my Rega CD2000, it is interesting how I got used to CD sound and it seems like some of us have forgotten the amazing effortless and non fatiguing qualities of the LP.

thank you in advance for any info
128x128philjolet
sdcampbell
2,136 posts
 
Hi, Jim. I have avoided using cleaning solutions with my cartridges, because it is possible for liquids to migrate up the cantilever and possibly cause degradation of the cantilever suspension. The dry approach to cleaning seems to have worked well in my experience, although I am tempted to try the Zerodust Stylus Cleaner (just wish it were about half the price...).
jimbo3
304 posts
 
THanks, SDC, I had forgotten that there was the problem with migration of the fluid, which is why I never used it when getting started years ago. (I knew there was a reason, but couldn't remember- y'know, for us old guys, the mind is the second thing to go.....)

Anyway, for Philjolet's information, I've found that cleaning with a stylus brush before playing EVERY record doesn't allow gunk to build up, making a fluid cleaning unnecessary.

Regards,
Jim
maxgain
526 posts
 
The pressure on the tip even tracking at one gram is, in terms of PSI unthinkable, which generates some heat at the stylus, and even if you try to keep your records clean and are cleaning the diamond each side I would think you may still get some sort of baked on "crud" build up possible. I have worried myself about some of the solvent based fluids screwing up the suspension or even loosening the adhesive that holds the tip on. You really need a quality microscope to know if you have no gunk on that tiny diamond surface. I looked at "needles" under an expensive Swiss scope for years that people brought in from their "record players" and some of them looked like the villan in a sci-fi space movie under that thing, with all the crap you can imagine glued to it.Hard to imagine that they played at all! It seems like distilled water would be harmless and help get rid of some small amounts of build up, but I may be wrong. If you don't have a wet vac record cleaner or some good method of removing the mold release agents from your records before you play them, that alone can leave a film of schmooze on the tip. Their IS stuff on your diamond you can't see by just looking at it I assure you. This is a good discussion and good a good cleaning "ritual" will go along way to keeping everything working well and sounding good.
chazzbo
1,007 posts
 
Linn used to hand out matchbooks I am told with their logo on it as stylus cleaner given that your stylus was well made and they knew theis were.Try 300 grit paper.Or Extremphono has a gel which is much cheaper than the one recently favorably mentioned by Fremmer in Stereophile for something like $75.Gel compound that you just drop arm onto.Ask Casey here on 'Gon or go to his web site www.extremephono.com
twl
3,251 posts
 
I can verify that matchbook strikers work well. I can also verify that Linn gave out the matchbooks with their logo on them that had "Linn Stylus Cleaner" printed on the cover. I personally watched Ivor Tiefenbrun clean the stylus of a Linn Karma cartridge with one. I then used this method on my Linn for many years with good results. You lightly stroke the sides of the stylus once or twice with the striker from back to front on 45 degree angles to remove the baked on microscopic residue from the contact areas of the stylus. I owned some of the Linn matchbooks, but have now lost them. They are no different than any paper matchbook that you may have laying around.
More to discover