Should you use cleaner on your stylus?


I am hearing two diferent arguments on cleaning my stylus, I have a CA Aurum Beta S Mk. 2 MM cartridge on a JMW9 TA and 2 grams of pressure:
1) Should I use a cleaner, and if so what one?
2) What is the best stylus brush to use? Brand name please.
3) How often (hours of use) should I clean it, based on relatively clean LP's
flharrisdd0f
Before we suggested the ever more popular Mr. Clean Magic Eraser we owned and used ZeroDust, ExtremePhono, RRL #9 liquid and even one of Twl's ex-Linnie matchbook strikers.

My experience is that the MCME cleans better than any of them, and it's safe for hollow cantilevers as Nsgarch mentioned.

Joe's suggestion of less frequent use makes sense if you're concerned about abrasion. But diamonds are pretty hard and a stylus sees thousands or millions of times more abrasion playing one side of an LP than it gets from a 1 second dip in MCME.

We used to use MCME only every tenth side or after a dirty side, like Joe. Then Jonathon Carr of Lyra explained to me that a stylus picks up a microscopic layer of melted vinyl particles on every play, even if the record is perfectly clean. The MCME is abrasive enough to remove this layer. ZeroDust, XtremePhono and liquid cleaners will not. I have verified this using a photographer friend's 200x microscope camera.

Therefore, this is what we do after EVERY side:
1. Dry brush stylus from B-to-F
2. Dip stylus once or twice in MCME (NEVER brush or scrape with it)
3. Dry brush again to remove any loosened particulates

Note: use only the white MCME, not the blue ones. The latter contain cleaning chemicals.
I was planning to use both Mr Clean and Zerodust - got a great deal on the Zerodust or I would just be using the Mr. Clean eraser.

Doug, et al - Like flharris, I would like to know what brand of stylus brush is recommended...

Holly
Any small, short-bristled brush will do. Relax, it's just a brush! ;-)

I used the corner of my CF record brush for nearly a year. That worked fine, though it's not quite as stiff as a "real" stylus brush.

Then these higher model ZYX's started showing up. They include a free stylus brush! Not bad for a few kilobucks, huh?

How about a small paint brush like artists and model builders use? Cut the handle down to a convenient length. Choose one with coarser bristles and trim them off short if necessary, so they have a little stiffness to them. Should cost you about $0.59.
Another vote for Mr. Clean and the coarse bristle artist brush with the handle cut down.

I have no experience with Zerodust, but have used the Extremephono. Got sick of the goo leaking out of the container and getting all over everything. Magic Eraser just plain does a better job.

Doug- Thanks for passing along the heads-up from the folks at Lyra. I'll start using Mr. Clean more often based on that info.
Thanks for the info on the using an artist's brush. Nice and cheap - the Last Stylus brush, which I was considering, is $20.

Holly