No wonder people got rid of their vinyl rigs...

tubewade

tubewade

Super Member
When I pick up another turntable the stylus comes off and goes straight to the microscope. I am almost always amazed at the horrible condition of these. That beautiful 0.7 mil radius has become a 90 degree chisel! If people are judging the capabilities of vinyl playback based of the sound from these neglected styli it's no wonder they were ready to pass their vinyl gear off and take up something else. This is an indication of why decent looking used vinyl can sometimes sound like poo. I feel bad for anyone that buys the records that have been played over and over on one of these destroyers.
 
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tubewade said:
When I pick up another turntable the stylus comes off and goes straight to the microscope. I am almost always amazed at the horrible condition of these. That beautiful 0.7 mil radius has become a 90 degree chisel! If people are judging the capabilities of vinyl playback based of the sound from these neglected styli it's no wonder they were ready to pass their vinyl gear off and take up something else. This is an indication of why decent looking used vinyl can sometimes sound like poo. I feel bad for anyone that buys the records that have been played over and over on one of these destroyers.
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Yes it´s a pity, it isn´t that either expensive or difficult to change the needle, so there are few excuses not to do it.
gusten
 
I've generally found that people are bad at maintaining things. Doesn't matter what the "thing" is, its expected to work without ever being touched until the end of eternity. When it fails to do so, it is branded as a piece of garbage and something new that will surely last forever is brought in to replace it.
 
My personal fav example of just this very thing

mvg5.jpg


A rather used and abused Shure V15 II
Still has me wondering how anyone could let it get so bad :sigh:
 
DaveyW, indeed a wonderful example! And it's wondrous to me that you can take a picture like that. I do not have facilities to do that. I do have a couple of styli that are worn to such a 90 degree wedge that even a 300 power microscope cannot see any radius at all. It looks like a sharp point.


Balifly said:
They may be salvageable with a different stylus! :scratch2:
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(speaking of records damaged by worn styli)

This is well taken and true! Precisely the reason I keep practically every imaginable stylus profile including especially micro-ridge types and 1 mil Ortofon Pro-S types. These can do wonders on damaged records.
 
gadget73 said:
I've generally found that people are bad at maintaining things. Doesn't matter what the "thing" is, its expected to work without ever being touched until the end of eternity. When it fails to do so, it is branded as a piece of garbage and something new that will surely last forever is brought in to replace it.
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Right on, brutha. I've driven Citroens for many years now. They got a horrible reputation in the US because the distances were so great, and the company made bad choices about what dealers they should take on. People did not keep the car's precision mechanisms well maintained, and as a result they failed. (Perfect example was substituting ATF for the true Citroen hydraulic fluid because it was cheaper, but it also wore all the super-precise tolerances in the hydraulic system and eventually caused leakages through the fittings that could not be stopped. Just plain shtoopid.)

Whereas in Europe they would run practically forever. Robust enough to be winners of Paris-Dakar Rally, etc.

But I guess maintenance requires thought and attention, and people want appliances that do not require thought or attention . Cue up Robert Pirsig . . .
 
DaveyW said:
My personal fav example of just this very thing

mvg5.jpg
Click to expand...

Looking at this stylus, what are you seeing? The actual part that would play be in the groove would be less than the white spot at the very tip of the diamond.

Is this what you are pointing out as worn out? Just curious as wear patterns on styli are very hard to see and nearly as hard to understand especially when viewing in less than ideal conditions.

Picture reposted against EWs desires because it is the topic of discussion. Otherwise, it would have been deleted.
 
tubewade said:
(speaking of records damaged by worn styli)

This is well taken and true! Precisely the reason I keep practically every imaginable stylus profile including especially micro-ridge types and 1 mil Ortofon Pro-S types. These can do wonders on damaged records.
Click to expand...

Cool, would like to read about your favorites some time! :thmbsp:
 
I need a tutorial on what I'm looking at in the above pic, like maybe a pic of what it should look like to compare.
 
gusten said:
Yes it´s a pity, it isn´t that either expensive or difficult to change the needle, so there are few excuses not to do it.
gusten
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Price for new OEM stilus is usually in 60-80% range off the new cartridge price. It gets expensive very quickly. Keep in mind that MC cartridges have no stilus replacement option other than factory rebuild.
 
Blue Shadow said:
Looking at this stylus, what are you seeing? The actual part that would play be in the groove would be less than the white spot at the very tip of the diamond.

Is this what you are pointing out as worn out? Just curious as wear patterns on styli are very hard to see and nearly as hard to understand especially when viewing in less than ideal conditions.
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This is more than just wear - complete erosion of the tip

Here's what it should look like - a low mileage VN-15E

d9km.jpg
 
tubewade said:
DaveyW, indeed a wonderful example! And it's wondrous to me that you can take a picture like that. I do not have facilities to do that.
Click to expand...

Thanks - These two shots were just quick snaps (on macro mode) through a std. microscope with a basic 4MP digital camera
 
DaveyW said:
My personal fav example of just this very thing

mvg5.jpg


A rather used and abused Shure V15 II
Still has me wondering how anyone could let it get so bad :sigh:
Click to expand...

I don´t think that is any wear caused by playing, the wear caused by playing cannot be seen with a picture like this. The wear is at the very tip of the needle and cannot be seen with this angle and resolution.
gusten
 
crossram said:
Like a guy I used to work with always said, " You can't fix stupid".
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Back in the day we weren't stupid but most people did not have the knowledge, tools, skills, or even the desire to properly align a cartridge and set up a turntable.

To the average person records were not collectors items, they were disposable items to many.

Even people that took care of their records, like me, could have been playing them with misaligned cartridges. I know I never heard of Stevenson or Baerwald back then.
 
Same could be said about cassette decks and CDPs that just needed a rubber band or few drops of alcohol or lube to get them going.
 
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