Best thing in the world for the stylus is to never let it get cruddy in the first place (makes a big difference if you keep your records clean). I use little stylus brushes for a half dozen strokes after each record side. I use an old medical microscope to examine them periodically (I have a collection of cartridges in rotation for my 40 year old B&O table, still perfect, began collecting cartridges for it a long time ago). I have always been amazed and pleased at how pristine they remain; I have never seen them look anything like the example pictures I've seen showing various degrees ranging from slightly dusty to absolutely hard coated in crud.
But, if you do have one that is cruddy, you have to be gentle, patient, and beware of liquids that might work up into the armature/coil parts.
- I would start with a close examination. You can buy a little hand held microscope with a built in high intensity light for a few dollars, plenty good enough to check what is going on and verify progress of cleaning (Radio Shack, Fry's, Amazon)
- look to see where the crud is attached (stylus, stylus mount, behind the mount, cantilever)
- first use a dry stylus brush motion from back to front only, about 30 strokes, then check cleaning progress. If it was just loose dust, you may be done.
- if what remains is a fairly solid coating, you may very carefully add a drop of record cleaner to the brush and try again, slow strokes that brush the cantilever, mount, and stylus... be sure to maintain an orientation that does not let liquid flow into the inside of the cartridge.
- for very dirty ones you can place a couple of drops to soak one end of a Q-tip (but DO NOT be tempted to apply the Q-tip to scrub the stylus!); just set the Q-tip on a clean saucer and rest the stylus gently on it so that the stylus is not moving. Give it a few minutes of "soaking" and then use a brush, then check with the scope to see how that is coming. May take a few cycles... give it time to dry so you don't minimize risk wetting the insides.
For cleaning records I use the Spin-Clean. I have found three things that make the Spin-Clean process work really well:
- a rinse cycle. After I clean a record it goes into a rack, and after the rack is full of the whole batch of cleaned records, I empty and flush the Spin-Clean, and then refill it with fresh distilled water, no soap, and just a little splash of isopropyl A. Then I give each record another spin with the cleaning bushes removed, so this is just a quick rinse, then back to the rack for drying.
- it took a while to find the right rack, plastic coated wire, with the right geometry of form so that when records are resting in it the records do not touch each other and the rack supports only contact the records at their edges and within their label area. I clean a batch of about 15-20 records at a time - the rack needs to match your batch size.
- attempting to dry records by hand is futile. They need to air dry over a few hours and it is extremely important that they are truly dry before being played and certainly before going back into their sleeves and covers to be stored. I set the rack of records where air currents are minimal and cover the whole thing loosely with a brand new plastic trash bag to shelter them from airborne stuff while they are slowly drying.