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.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Stylus Cleaning Brush
• 70% Isopropyl Alcohols

1. Follow instructions in your cartridge manual, if any.

2. Be very gentle when cleaning the stylus tip.

3. Use a stylus brush or a stiff, short-pile brush for dry cleaning.

4. Brush stylus toward you (back-to-front of stylus).

5. Clean stabilizer brush, if any, in same motion.

6. Repeat each time you play a record.

7. Use a stylus brush or a cotton swab dipped in a 70% isopropyl alcohol solution for wet cleaning.

8. Brush stylus toward you (from back to front of stylus).

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.

[michael-h]

on 7/25/2009 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]

on 6/15/2008 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.

[audie]

on 5/26/2008 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.