Build-up on stylus - any new cures?

OK, thanks. I just ordered the Audio-Technica AT-617a so that should do the trick.

Thanks, I actually have a bottle of that exact stuff (at least it was 91% a couple of years ago, and I have used it regularly. Whatever is stuck on their seems impervious to alcohol, though, so I'm exploring other options. I appreciate your response.

OK, for everyone that offered practical ideas for a solution, thank you! I appreciate that. My problem is somewhere in the mechanical-chemical range and pragmatic ideas are welcome.

For the various people that assumed that I don't clean my records, I actually never play one I haven't cleaned unless I cut the shrink wrap right beforehand. And sometimes I clean even new records first.

The cantilever tip around the diamond looks like a snowball with just the tip of the diamond peaking through. Dipping it into ME's (my usual cleaning method) with alcohol, or water, or even vinegar (why not?) were all equally ineffective. An Audio-Technica tacky thing was ineffective, as was a Discwasher stylus brush I got in the 1970s, both dry and with alcohol on it.

Going forward I will explore solvents and possibly ultrasonic cleaning, perhaps with that Flux HiFi gadget. Fortunately I also have the JICO replacement for the original VN-35E stylus (not SAS). It will work until I fix the SAS.

Thanks, but no, it is clearly a buildup of some sort. The 2014 thread about this noted that vinyl shed from records looks like this and consists of short rods in shape.

My listening tastes are not very mainstream. Some of the pressings I listen to are musically on the fringe in various directions and sometimes not the best pressings.

Some also are from the mid-late 1970s when the oil embargo led to high percentages of recycled vinyl from returned or scrapped records. At first some of those pressings not only blended crunched up vinyl from random sources, but sometimes included bits of label from the scrapped pressings. A machine was created to punch out the center of scrapped records to avoid pollution in the slurry from bits of old labels, but it was not a good time for vinyl quality in independent pressings. This deposit on my cantilever could have come from a particular disc that I hope to identify at some point.

Thanks, I'll add LP9 to my growing collection of stylus cleaning stuff, I appreciate it.
As to what I use for cleaning, it's the humble Spin-Clean. I always use the prescribed amount of surfactant, not washing a record until it seems well distributed in the distilled water. I suppose it could be leaving deposits on the discs, though I haven't seen any mention of this before.

Any thoughts on ultrasonic cleaners? My wife has one suitable for jewelry. There are also those Flux HiFi Sonic devices that purport to employ some not-so-ultra frequencies.

Thanks! I have brushes, magic erasers, and various things. I read that the SAS styli just scoop up stuff and the tip now looks like it is inside a micro snow ball with the just the very tip of the diamond protruding. An ultrasonic jewelry cleaner may be the next attempt.

Thank you!