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.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

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.

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