Turntable Problems

Fairly obvious, but have you checked the cartridge clips? A loose/bent/broken/shorted cartridge ground could cause a hum.

Jameswei is right you would just be engraving your Lp's minus the stylus, & hum is grounding related issue. So if you managed to set-up the table 100% in the same manner prior to the spill? If there was no previous ground hum, it has to be wire/cartridge/stylus related. I'm liking Jameswei's bent mention!

Frankly, a broken stylus probably wouldn't generate a lot of hum. The hum would suggest some kind of a short or a grounding problem. Also, if the stylus were broken off, you really shouldn't be able to hear any music. (You could hear music if the stylus was merely bent, though.) While I certainly agree with Audiobugged that it would be wise to check the stylus carefully with a magnifier, I would also recommend jiggling all the wires you can reach and also flipping the MM/MC selector switch on the back of the Creek. My first guess would be a pinched tonearm wire shorting to chassis somewhere. My second guess would be some kind of damage within the cartridge. Good luck.

Try a 10x Magnifing Loop, to identify if there is Stylus damage. You can score a really great Zeiss optics jewlers Loop on ebay sometimes for $10.00. Comes in very handy as our vision diminishes. And stop playing records till you can see the possible damage.

Good Luck!

Well I took the tone arm off, and looked at the wires, everything looked in place, but when i looked at the cartridge, it's hard to tell if the stylus is still attached.

Could be the wiring related, possible within the tone-arm? Did he pull it off by any of the cables?

Does he get a sizable allowance???