Best stylus cleaner

What microscope do you use to examine your cartridges for stylus wear? I recently bought a Dino-Lite AM3113 USB microscope (for $250) but have yet to set it up.

No microscope, my dealer looks at it when looking at the rest of the deck

Anyone concerned about following Linnā€™s guidelines for cleaning their cartridges is clearly free to choose some other method. The idea that gently passing the finest of abrasive paper over the stylus periodically is going to damage the hardest of natural materials seems strange to me, challenging the manufacturers guidelines stranger still.

I believe a stylus travels over a half mile each time a 12" record is played, apparently with 26 tons of pressure per square inch. I doubt all the styli Iā€™ve ever owned have travelled a half mile over the green stuff in total & as ham fisted as I am I doubt my cleaning exerts anything like the kind of pressure playing a record does.

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No matter which method you choose to clean the stylus Rooster, a decent Vinyl cleaner is a must Imoā€¦

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I wonder if the green paper will receive the green card .

I was really wondering about @graham55 specifically, since he seems so sure heā€™s never caused any stylus damage using the green paper in five years of use. I donā€™t think you can really know that without a close examination under microscope.

The AT637 I have bought is pre-loved, from eBay UK.

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Oh no it isnā€™tā€¦. I thought the wisdom here was to let the stylus do the cleaning

Thatā€™s right, theyā€™ll stay clean without cleaning because Roy Gandy replaces them for you when they are no longer playable. :roll_eyes:

Not worried about being an iconoclast!
Ex LP12/Linn cartridges ownerā€¦the tactile sensation of using the green paper was just too nuch for me!..nothing lost though, I am confident in my stylus brush ans Audio Technica vibrating thing.

I brush regularly, green clean occasionally & use the AT vibrating thing every month or two. Coupled with a Project Alu record cleaning machine I feel like Iā€™ve got all the angles covered. No fear :wink:

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Sounds comprehensive!

I run a tight ship. Itā€™s like a decontamination area in our living room.

Ah good. I was wondering if anyone had a sense of humour on this forum, which I thought was a prerequisite.

At an Andras Schiff concert in Eindhoven last year, he said that music can be full of humour and to beware of anyone that doesnā€™t have a sense of humour, I assume good or bad :joy:

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Iā€™m big enough to look after myself, thank you!

Hey, itā€™s a fair question. You make the claim that green paper has never damaged your stylus. Iā€™m asking how you know. Thatā€™s legit. Given your defensive retort Iā€™ll just assume you have no clue whether you are or arenā€™t trashing your stylus over time. Youā€™re just assuming itā€™s all fine, without evidence. Is that correct?

I think those who are claiming the green paper is benign ā€“ but haveā€™t actually checked their stylii under a proper microscope to know for sure ā€“ are doing a disservice to others with their claims, which may very well be bogus (and I suspect it is).

Linn may have recommended this stuff for decades but they arenā€™t stakeholders in the health of your cartridges. On the contrary, theyā€™re perfectly happy to sell you replacements, premature or not. I trust Jonathon Carr and Yoshinori Mishima, the designer and builder of Lyra cartridges. They say only use a brush, and their SPT fluid (very, very sparingly): never use anything at all abrasive. They donā€™t even recommend a US stylus cleaner.

Like I said before I think using the green paper is completely bonkers. But if you all want to file away at your expensive stylii be my guest.

And if green paper is such a panacea, why does no one else ā€“ no one! ā€“ in the industry recommend it as well?

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Each to their own.

You have to have a particularly warped frame of mind to think that Linn recommend green paper because they know that it will bugg*r up your stylus and will have to go back to them for a new one!

I have no idea whether other cartridge makers have a view on the merits or otherwise of using green paper. Indeed, I have never even seen or heard any statement from Linn on the subject.

Thereā€™s nothing warped about my frame of mind. Why should I trust trust Linn? I have no reason to take their word on it, so skepticism is fair game. Have they done any legit investigation on the effects (is there a white paper), or did they just decide they like using it and tell everyone else to do so as well? Lambs to the slaughter. LOL

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Ivor Tiefenbrun is the Linn founder & he is a turntable technology visionary, so whatever he said about the green paper must deserve some merits? No need for any whitepaper, his words are more than enough.
Btw, I am using this:

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Oh, I donā€™t know, Ivor isnā€™t a cartridge builder. Why should I care what he says. Jonathon Carr and Yoshinori Mishimaa are. They have my respect. Iā€™ll follow what they say. :slight_smile:

Anyway, use the green paper or not. I never will again and recommend against it to anyone who asks.

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