What devices have you found useful when inspecting your stylii for cleanliness?

lewm,

guilty, I knew it at the time about the stylus, but safely seeing while cleaning the stylus is important.

I didn’t imagine cleaning lp’s to be a part of this, but when he mentioned how hard it is for him to see combined with checking between sides, ....

lak,

interesting, but the max is only 3.5x, and getting the right distance to the object is important, not to mention, viewing the underside which is why a magnifying mirror works well.

I keep a small 20x magnifying mirror loose on the deck below my cartridge, no need to remove the headshell or cartridge or stylus. The arm remains locked in the rest, you simply rotate/tilt the mirror this way and that for any view

I just found this diagram indicating distance/magnifying power, my stylus tip is 2" above the mirror when at rest.

for $10, I am going to try this 30x one with built in light

30x Magnifying Mirror, 4" dia, with light

You don’t need or want the suction cups, you pick up one edge, angle it about this way and that, seeing the cantilever and stylus easily. In my case, I just move it below whichever cartridge I am checking.

Now, I have a nearby light fixture, and I bounce the light down onto the mirror and it reflects under the cartridge. This new one with it’s built in and dimmable light might work, might not.

Scissors as a bonus

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Brush, or Stylus Cleaning Fluid: I lift the arm up higher out of the rest, and can see magnified in the mirror the brush/cartridge/cantilever/stylus as I approach and draw rear to front.

Checking after each side is played is over-doing it IMO. I check when I turn the system on, while warming up: check, typically ok, or brush a speck of dust, or maybe if I see something more stylus cleaning fluid with it's cap brush. Or, you hear something, sure enough, a bit of ...... hanging on the stylus

IF you are finding anything more that occassional dust, frequently finding gunk on your stylus, then it is digging that out of dirty grooves, you need to do a better job cleaning them.

I no longer use a brush to clean the LP, it pushes dust down into the grooves I think. I use a large lint free eyeglass cloth, a manual spin, a light wipe of any surface dust center to outer edge (I have forced air hvac, airborne dust)

My old LPs from high school/college days were filthy, noisy, gunk on the stylus frequently. I manually scrub the crap out of them with infant scalp brush, the advanced stylus gets deeper in the cleaned grooves than the elliptical I had in those days, they sound surprisingly listenable again. Setup for perfect imaging, whistle while I work, batches of 10

the new mirror with LED light came, the light works well, no need to aim or hold another light source. it's 30x, slightly better than my 20x, the numbers don't make meaningful sense,

btw, many years ago, I gave myself a great shop light with magnifying glass, and built-in lights, here it is, with the 20x and new 30x in same photo, I'm moving my Sumiko Talisman Sapphire to my Long Fixed arm for the Holidays.

here's the 20x, I bounce light from a nearby fixture with flexible arm, then pick up the mirror, rotate it this way and that

here's the 30x, self-lit a wonderful hands free feature, I still lift one edge of the mirror, roll it this way and that, you can inspect the suspension, the cantilever, the tip, just a matter of positioning, bending, eye distance.