Record Cleaning - Cartridge Damage


I have a van den hul Black Beauty cartridge, and was told (can't remember by whom) that I should never use any stylus cleaner that contains alcohol. The reason given was that the alcohol will degrade the rubber that is part of the cartridge's suspension.

I thought this was a little odd, since I would only brush near the stylus itself, but it did cause me to wonder about the following:

I use a Nitty Nritty record cleaning machine with Nitty Gritty's "Pure 2" cleaning fluid. I am told by Nitty Gritty that this contains about 8% alcohol. I know that the machine vacuums off all the fluid, so I don"t see how this would damage the rubber in the cartridge's suspension. But then, I also would not have thought that brushing the stylus with alcohol would have done anything to the rubber in the suspension. Are "fumes" a problem? Is their any possibility of damage here? I clean my records regularly.

Regards,

Paranoid.
jackcob

Showing 1 response by gthrush1

I use the Last fluids to clean and treat my cartridge. I clean it about every other side, though the Last folks actually say to clean every side. Never gave it a second thought...

I clean my records about every ten plays or so using a VPI HW-17F with Nitty Gritty RCM fluid, though I may change brands to the Last RCM fluid. I change the brush and suction tube about every 1,000 sides cleaned.

I wouldn't worry about damage to your cartridge. I think cleaner is better when it comes to vinyl and cartidges...