boreas
"If it sounds good, it IS good." E.K.E.
My only thought would be whether the stylus is usable in its present condition.
If the answer is no, what do you have to lose?
John
Possible Cure for Collapsed Stylus Suspension
- Thread starter boreas
- Start date
My only thought would be whether the stylus is usable in its present condition.
If the answer is no, what do you have to lose?
John
Hmm. Mine is working fine, but I feel it isn't sounding as good as it should.
I'll take it off the arm today and see what I can get to.
I'll take it off the arm today and see what I can get to.
boreas
"If it sounds good, it IS good." E.K.E.
It may actually sound okay but, if the stylus grip is virtually touching the record, it's not really working fine.
John
KrisM
Lunatic Member
Good point, it's not usuable.
I'll give it a shot some time, and report back.
This thread brought back memories of when I first got into vinyl about 12 years ago. I was using an old ADC QLM, listening to Zeppelin's Rock And Roll. The cantilever would twist, and the sound was unbalanced. I knew absolutely nothing about carts, but figured a little glue would keep it in place. Worked well, until the song really got moving and the arm started bouncing all over the place.:lmao:
Lost Monkey
Active Member
...so this same method might work with a cantilever which is pointing to the left or right as well?
I have an original Empire stylus for the 1000 ze /x which does not center.. I will try this method or a variation on it... the stylus is doing nothing right now anyway...
I have an original Empire stylus for the 1000 ze /x which does not center.. I will try this method or a variation on it... the stylus is doing nothing right now anyway...
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boreas
"If it sounds good, it IS good." E.K.E.
Perhaps if the cantilever was off-azimuth because of a distortion in the bushing but if the cantilever was turned that way by some external force, the only thing to do would be to turn it back by hand.
John
Lost Monkey
Active Member
Got it.
boreas
"If it sounds good, it IS good." E.K.E.
Vinylmasters
Super Member
John - I'm going to try this with an Empire 875XLT I have. Same issue, and I can't find a stylus for it anyway, so what do I have to lose, right?
Lost Monkey
Active Member
VM: the stylus is in good shape? Well, keep in mind that these cantilevers are held in place with adhesive. Be careful you don't dissolve the stuff, though I've found that the cantilever pretty much stays put even so.
John: You can listen to a crackly but clean-sounding dub of the LP *Milligan Preserves* in your choice of currant, leather, bluebell or strorbry on Youtube. Valentine Dyall co-stars. Don't look at the going price of the LP. Sapristi nadgers!
LMonk: That doesn't look too bad. I'd be inclined to leave it alone, since I don't know of an affordable source of NOS examples. Does it sound bad, or is the channel balance off or some such?
John: You can listen to a crackly but clean-sounding dub of the LP *Milligan Preserves* in your choice of currant, leather, bluebell or strorbry on Youtube. Valentine Dyall co-stars. Don't look at the going price of the LP. Sapristi nadgers!
LMonk: That doesn't look too bad. I'd be inclined to leave it alone, since I don't know of an affordable source of NOS examples. Does it sound bad, or is the channel balance off or some such?
Doug G.
Lunatic Member
Johnny: My cantilever is off center.
Audience: How far off center is it?
Johnny: It's so far off center, it thinks Brilliant Pebbles is a conservative approach to sonic improvement.
Doug
boreas
"If it sounds good, it IS good." E.K.E.
Yes, it's worth repeating that the condition of the stylus tip needs to be checked and needs to be good enough to use. Otherwise, the rejuvenation of the suspension is just an academic exercise.
Needle noddle noo!
I could be seeing this incorrectly, especially since the stylus tip is blurred out in the photo, but it looks like the spatulated end of the cantilever is rotated. That may mean that, in this instance, the adhesive has already failed and that the cantilever can be carefully rotated back into place.
John
A failed Crumb? Hope not.boreas said:
To explain:
The Empire cantilever sometimes has a tie wire, but not in the 'Chunkies', so to keep the cantilever from spinning in its rubber socket, there's a tiny white dot of sticky stuff, usually at the bottom of the socket, that maintains azimuth. I've nicknamed this normally-not-visible white dot The Crumb, because that's what I first thought it was when I pulled a particularly dirty eBayed Empire stylus from the ultrasonic bath and brushed it off to speed the drying. Once the stylus dried off, the Crumb re-adhered itself and all was well, but while it was wet, I could adjust azimuth to comedic extremes if I so desired.
It may only be necessary to degrease (ie, clean) the stylus assembly and let the Crumb latch on again-- assuming it really is loose. But I wouldn't want to recommend anything without a better look at the stylus.
DG: I thought you were going to make a Flintstones reference. Hey yo.
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boreas
"If it sounds good, it IS good." E.K.E.
Looks like it's on YouTube has an incomplete series of individual tracks as opposed to the whole album in one go.
By the way, it can be had pretty cheaply on Discogs..... if you ignore the fact that all available copies are in the UK and shipping is bordering on prohibitive.
John
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boreas
"If it sounds good, it IS good." E.K.E.
Okay, as promised, here are some photos of what I did to treat the stylus.
The first picture shows the folded paper wedged under the cantilever and held in place by the stylus guard.
The second and third photos show where I applied the WD-40. This was to the bushing at the base of the cantilever at the front and to the bushing where the cantilever poked through the rear.
John
The first picture shows the folded paper wedged under the cantilever and held in place by the stylus guard.
The second and third photos show where I applied the WD-40. This was to the bushing at the base of the cantilever at the front and to the bushing where the cantilever poked through the rear.
John
Attachments
Lost Monkey
Active Member
Just gave it a listen with some headphones, and it compares favourably with the JICO replacement I have... It actually almost completely straightens out when it is in use. I would probably just need to adjust the tracking force a bit.
I'll just leave it as is and keep it as a spare..
Hm. Nice to know it straightens out in use (as it should, due to groove drag), but you say it only "compares favourably" to the JICO replacement? I should think it would do better than that, but maybe JICO's come up with a dynamite replacement stylus. I hope so.
The 1000ZE/X is a very light tracker. 1.25g is the maximum.
The 1000ZE/X is a very light tracker. 1.25g is the maximum.