How to Clean a Turntable Stylus
To preserve your stylus and your records, and to get the best possible sound quality, clean your stylus often.
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Instructions
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Follow instructions in your cartridge manual, if any.
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Be very gentle when cleaning the stylus tip.
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Use a stylus brush or a stiff, short-pile brush for dry cleaning.
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Brush stylus toward you (back-to-front of stylus).
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Clean stabilizer brush, if any, in same motion.
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Repeat each time you play a record.
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Use a stylus brush or a cotton swab dipped in a 70% isopropyl alcohol solution for wet cleaning.
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Brush stylus toward you (from back to front of stylus).
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Tips & Warnings
Experts disagree about the merits of wet cleaning vs. dry cleaning. We recommend dry cleaning regularly and wet cleaning occasionally to remove grease and grime.
Some cartridges come with cleaning brushes. Discwasher, Last and Stanton also make stylus-cleaning brushes.
Save your old stylus when you replace it, and use it to play very worn records or newly acquired used records.
Do not attempt to concoct a stylus cleaning solution yourself; you will probably end up leaving solution deposits on the stylus. There are commercial cleaners, but sticking to alcohol is probably safest.
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Comments
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Thank you.
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MicHaeL H.
Jul 25, 2009
I have a question: Is it OK to use one of those blower-brushes to clean the stylus? In one of my record-players, one of those automated Marantz players, there is already a similar brush that automatically cleans the stylus. So I guess it's alright if I do it with a similar handheld brush myself on a different record-player? -
Aelfric
Jun 15, 2008
Witch hazel is not a good idea for vinyl records (and probably not for shellac either) due to the other chemicals mixed into it. If you're unwilling to buy a commercial record cleaning fluid, try three to four parts demineralised water mixed with one part of isopropyl alcohol. Add a few drops of a basic dishwashing liquid (no perfumes, no moisturizers). After washing the records with this mix, rinse them in straight demineralized water.
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audie
May 26, 2008
Please tell me if I'm wrong! In aquiring a bunch of 33-1/3's and 78's which have been in storage for years. I set out to find a cleaning method and deducted that witch hazel and a microfiber cloth work well.
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audie
May 26, 2008
Please tell me if I'm wrong! In aquiring a bunch of 33-1/3's and 78's which have been in storage for years. I set out to find a cleaning method and deducted that witch hazel and a microfiber cloth work well.
