I got a stylus cleaning kit for, but---------

I third the ME, and seem to recall it was Doug Deacon who introduced us all to it? I prefer to follow the ME with a 'dunk' or two in the ONZO Zero-dust to remove debris. I used to use a dry camel hair brush afterward (before the ONZO came out), but if I can't see where the bristles are going, it makes me a little nervous. I suppose it depends on how 'naked' the cartridge is ;-)

I recently posted something about avoiding liquid stylus cleaners for the reasons you mentioned; but I forgot to include liquid stylus 'conditioners' (StyLast) for the same reasons. Noise is always on the record, not the stylus!

If a new/mint record has been cleaned of any mold release, yet still plays noisy, try an enzyme cleaner like Bugtussel. If that doesn't help, then it may be a mint record all right, but so old that the volatile resins and oils in the vinyl have literally evaporated. Under a microscope, such a record has a surface that looks like the cracks in a dry riverbed. Last Record Preservative will replenish the lost volatile substances (and this is the ONLY time I would use it.) The Last won't repair these microscopic cracks, but will cause the vinyl to swell, closing them up, and reducing the surface noise considerably.
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Mark, it's been years since I read any of the Last literature, but I seem to recall the Stylast was pitched as a product that was compatible with records already treated with Last Record Preservative (I don't remember what their logic was, but profit is always a good guess ;-)

Diamond styli are laser-polished now, so it would be impossible to guild that lily! And I do recall someone (with a jaundiced eye even yellower than mine!) saying that even if the stuff worked, it would be gone from where the stylus contacts the record, after half a revolution . . . . .
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