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Shure guard or no guard

Azimuth

Azimuth

Well-Known Member
I have two Shure cartridges where the styli have guards, or whatever you call the little stylus protectors on a hinge that are left up during play, or most of the time. I have revived the large black one from the yellow M95ED stylus (N95ED) because I don’t like how it looks. I mostly use a V15 III (VN35E), which has a guard with the words SPECIAL TRACKING. I don’t see why I need to leave it on. I never remove the cartridge and rarely need to change the stylus. Are they any problems or implications for leaving the guards off, as long as the weight change is compensated?
 
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It’s entirely up to you, whatever you prefer. I swap out cartridges+headshells often, so I keep stylus guards in place and down when I’m handling the headshell. Sonically, it doesn’t matter. Unless you damage your stylus when cleaning dust off your table. Then it makes a huge sonic difference.
 
I tend to think that the guard on the VN35E is pretty flimsy and unsubstantial. It wouldn’t protect from very much, although t’s better than nothing..
 
Take the stylus guards off, unless:
  • You swap the headshell often
  • There is a cat or child that is likely to knock the arm off it's rest, and you need to keep the stylus protected when not playing
  • When transporting the turntable you want the stylus protected in case the arm becomes free or the stylus is snagged in packing material.
 
On most Shures you can see the stylus unless the guard is in the way. I take 'em off. I have a sucret's tin full of them.
 
Having snapped off my share of styli by accidentally hitting the arm across the platter, I leave mine on & down until the LP is ready to play. Last one was about 2 months ago, my last original V15III stylus. So even taking those precautions, accidents still can happen. The only saving grace was I was beginning to wonder if it was time to be replaced anyway, as I know I had over 500hours on it, and it sounded much better with a JICO SAS. So I was only using it on less than pristine records by this time anyway.
 
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