Stylus Cleaner

[sempai]

For about the past 10 years I've used the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, which I suspect must be the same product under different branding as the Magic Eraser referenced by toma-t-amot above.

Over the years I've used all the various liquids and gels (alcohol, the LAST products, Mobile Fidelity #9, Zerodust...) This lifetime supply of Magic Eraser has proven to be the best, most consistent stylus cleaner I've used. Just pay careful attention to how to use it as explained by Doug Deacon almost 10 years ago:
http://www.high-endaudio.com/Magic.html

+1

Art

 

[dcmfan]

Yes, Magic Eraser is the cheapest, most effective stylus cleaner.......do a 60x magnifier 'before and after' inspection and I guarantee you will use nothing else.....but first, you must leave your 'brand name' ego's at the door........

Tried it. Did not like the little melamine fibers that stuck to the stylus and cantilever. Clearly visible without magnification.

 

[Bugler]

Tried it. Did not like the little melamine fibers that stuck to the stylus and cantilever. Clearly visible without magnification.

I'm going to have to check that out. Now that I think about it I think that was mentioned before which may be why I didn't try Magic Eraser before.

 

[Rushton]

Just be sure to use the original Magic Eraser without any cleaning additives/detergents in it.

 

[4-2-7]

What you use to clean a stylus really is dependent on the cartridge, cantilever and suspension.

Working with some cartridges there is no room to play around with something that can snag it (ME), Boron will snap in a second, liquids can wick up on a rubber grommet suspension and destroy a MC cart.

I know with my carts the less I handle them the better so no brushers for me, and a gel is no different than cueing down on a record.

Then the fact of playing new or very clean record I hardly need to clean my stylus.

 

[sempai]

Then the fact of playing new or very clean record I hardly need to clean my stylus.

That's the answer.
Cleanliness is really the key isn't it.

Art

 

[4-2-7]

That's the answer.
Cleanliness is really the key isn't it.

Art

Pretty much, I kinda clean for GP purposes because I'm supposed to......I guess. Never am I cleaning it because I hear it's dirty, or see a wad of gunk.

 

[stevoz]

Tried it. Did not like the little melamine fibers that stuck to the stylus and cantilever. Clearly visible without magnification.

Fair enough, but I have never seen that before, even under 60x mag. Maybe there's different Magic Eraser's, as in different styles, as well as different brands. The one I have is not fibrous at all.....stylus always ends up pristine.

 

[dcmfan]

Fair enough, but I have never seen that before, even under 60x mag. Maybe there's different Magic Eraser's, as in different styles, as well as different brands. The one I have is not fibrous at all.....stylus always ends up pristine.

Pretty sure "Magic Eraser" is a trademarked brand name for melamine foam. Magnified it looks like this:

The last stylus I used it on was a JICO SAS which has a very fine cantilever. When I saw the fibers on the cantilever I decided that the stylus was sinking too far into the matrix and pulling fibers back up when I raised the tonearm out of the Magic Eraser. Experiment ended.

I've seen worse, though - back in the day, stores would hand out strips of fine emery paper to use for stylus cleaning. Origin Live still sells this: http://www.originlive.com/products/...s/stylus-care-cleaning/green-stuff-paper.html but even they say it's not recommended for microline stylus tips - too fragile!

In the 70's I remember seeing people lightly run their finger across a stylus to clean it ("Always from back to front though - don't want to do anything stupid!" they said...)

Ultimately there are about a half a dozen ways to clean a stylus - finger, dry brush, wet brush, air/blowing, magic eraser, gel - and the cool thing is that we each get to pick the one(s) that we like best for whatever reasons we choose.

 

[Rushton]

Tried it. Did not like the little melamine fibers that stuck to the stylus and cantilever. Clearly visible without magnification.

Yes, and those melamine fibers are sharp so don't want them on one's records. I always follow up ME cleaning with a few strokes of a soft brush to flip off any melamine fibers that might have stayed behind. But I can't recall ever having observed any left behind either.

 

[jmchrislip]

LAST

 

[stevoz]

Yes, and those melamine fibers are sharp so don't want them on one's records. I always follow up ME cleaning with a few strokes of a soft brush to flip off any melamine fibers that might have stayed behind. But I can't recall ever having observed any left behind either.

Me neither.....or on the stylus. I use the cue down onto ME method, about three careful needle drops, and never had a problem. My piece of ME was given to me by my brother, and is about 3-4 mm thick. It does not appear to have been cut off a large block like that in dcmfan's pic on post #29, so it may be a similar but different product that differs in it's composition...... I have always looked at this process as fail safe, and so far it has proven to be just that.

 

[Drjay]

It is the Mister Clean Magic Eraser for me also. I have done numerous cleanings followed up by 200X binocular microscope views and have never seen anything but great results with no residual fibers ever noted. I have used various other methods in the past but none came close to the convenience and effectiveness of the ME.