O.K. Fess Up. Come Clean. Sing Like A Canary.


In the last several days I have gotten myself involved in a couple of threads regarding lifting (or forgetting about lifting) the stylus at the end of play. One individual was considering getting rid of his existing turntable, and replacing it with an older semi-automatic model.

He considered himself "lazy & forgetful".

Another individual was very upset with himself because he allowed himself to forget about the stylus for "20-30 minutes" after play.

He considered himself a "moron".

Am I another "lazy and forgetful moron"? Or is this just something that happens on occasion when you choose to endure the world of analog?

As of late, this does not happen to me anymore. I installed a "lifter". Problem solved. But before this point?

I can recall sometime back, arriving home after a weekend in Manhattan with my better half. It was Sunday evening about 11:00pm. We had left the previous Friday evening. We walked through the front door, I put down the bags and noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I looked over at my stereo and exclaimed "Uh-Oh".

Needless to say, I turned on the lights, walked over to the stereo, and as I looked down at the turntable (my head now spinning in a circular motion in unison with the rotating LP), had realized that this phenomenon had been in occurence over the last 50 hours or so.

I then cued the stylus, placed the tonearm on it's rest, turned off the turntable in disgust, sighed, and silently acknowledged the fact my NEW $800.00 Grado was toast.

Alright. I admit it. I can and did admit to such a mistake. Well, the word "mistake" sound a little extreme. Let's call it an "inopportune loss of mental focus". Now..... Let's see who else will step up to the plate.

What is the longest period of time that you have forgotten your stylus in the "rotating circle of death"?
128x128buscis2
Ok, so 7 5/8 is the size for fitting me with the Buscis Memorial Dunce Cap.

Many moons ago, I am sitting home on a Friday afternoon listening to grooves when the phone rings. I turn down my Marantz receiver and answer the phone. A buddy says - "hey, I got Led Zeppelin tickets in Chicago, throw together a bag and meet me at my place in a half hour." So, I pack a bag, socks and thunderwear flying all over the place. We go -- a long, fun weekend. I get home Sunday night and CRASH. I get up Monday morning and go to classes. Monday evening I grab some food, head home and grab a record. Ooooops, already a record on.........

Surprisingly, my AT cartridge stylus still played but sounded like crap. I replaced the plug-in stylus but wonder if the one I pitched would have played with a cleaning.
10 minutes once on a Dynavector 20X-H cart. But like Dan_ed my listening sessions are too 'ritualized' between the tubes and vinyl. Normally I can beat the cart to the lead out groove. :-)
Buscis2,
Can you provide any more info on the new smaller Lift. I checked expressimoaudio.com, and saw only the older lift in the 2 finishes.
That didn't work with my Nottingham Spacedeck. Couldn't get it to fit in the small space between platter and tonearm.
Thanks, Spencer
I wake up every 20 minutes, or so, even when I'm not asleep, so the answer would be approx. 20 minutes.
I've let mine go round many times for up to an hour or more and it's never done any damage. Why should it? It's just a quiet groove with a lead-in. What am I missing here? My cartridge is a Talisman Sapphire. However the odd record does have a "spiral of death" where the cartridge hits the clamp of my Oracle due to eccentricity or just being too small a diameter groove.