OK to play 78s with elliptical stylus?

Plato...It's not the shape of the stylus but its size that will degrade the 78's. The stylus tip diameter was considerably larger for 78's, and a LP stylus will scrape along the bottom of the groove instead of riding on the two sides.

Shure makes pickups and stylus to suit the 78 groove dimension, at very reasonable cost. Check their website. (Other manufacturers may also make such pickups).

Thanks Eldartford, you are right. I found the following post: "What is the difference between LP and 78 needles?
The difference is size. the 78 stylus is 4 times larger than the LP stylus. This is because the groove dimensions of the 78 disc are larger. if you place a LP stylus into a 78 groove, the needle will be resting on the bottom of the groove instead of tracing the groove wall. The result is lots of surface noise and little sound. Over the years I have seen many collectors accept this poor sound as simply the fault of the record! Using the right size stylus is always important."

So I'll need to get a cartridge built for the wider groove width. I checked out the Shure website, but so far have been unable to find what I need. But I'll keep checking and see what I can come up with.

Doing a little more research, I see that I can get a Shure M78S for around $60 and I think that Grado might make a Prestige model with a 78 stylus for around the same price. I'm not sure if I want to spring for that since I only paid $30 for the turntable, but if I don't find a better deal in the next couple of weeks, then I guess I'll pay the $60 for a new one. Man, how cheap can I get! :)

Plato...For really authentic sound, get yourself one of those piezioelectric crystal pickups that used to sell for about $3.50, with genuine osmium stylus. In fact, going further back, there used to be pickups that used triangular cross section wooden (yes) needles, that you would resharpen with a small clipper tool in between records. When I was about ten years old the headmaster of the school that I attended had a state of the art (1948) system which used the wooden needles. Well-behaved students would get to sharpen the needles.

Shhhhhhsh, Eldartford, if the high-end companies get wind of this they will start making needles out of cocobolo and charging a couple of hundred dollars a pop for them. That's a cool story! :)

When I was a kid I think we had some kind of cheap cartridges (ceramic, perhaps?); and when the needles wore out I can remember somehow jamming an actual metal needle or straight pin in the cartridge and it would work. But I don't think it did much to preserve the life of the records...