What is the life of a Grado Wood cartridge?

@vinowino

The grado website said I can expect 5000 hours. I do not see any reason why this should not be the case.

Really? What stylus type then ? Secret weapon ?

If the record has been cleaned properly (I mean wet and vacuum, not wiped with cloth) and the tracking weight is accurate why would it wear? Diamond is hard. I would not buy a cartridge if I was told to expect 500-1000 hours only.

The longest life span of the most advanced diamonds is 2000 hrs max. Look for profiles like Replicant 100, Gyger, Van Den Hul, Micro Ridge, Micro Line, Jico SAS ... just to name a few.

I’ve never heard of any stylus profile with 5000 hrs life span, could you name it ?

Cartridge life can be considerable- my Linn Arkiv B, which I bought in the early 2000's, and gets maybe an hour or 2 playing time a week, is still going strong. 

Impossible to say. Too many variables. Mine lasted 15 years. You either use it until it sounds bad, breaks or you see stylus wear under magnification.

I am constantly amazed at the ridiculous low hours quoted by many.
I had a Grado Wood Reference on my last turntable. I spent a lot of time searching about it before I bought.
The grado website said I can expect 5000 hours. I do not see any reason why this should not be the case.
If the record has been cleaned properly (I mean wet and vacuum, not wiped with cloth) and the tracking weight is accurate why would it wear? Diamond is hard.
I would not buy a cartridge if I was told to expect 500-1000 hours only.

So 2 hours of playing a day would put you at about 1year and 4 months for a 1,000 hour usage.If memory serves me correct my old AT20SL lasted way over 5 years plus.
Maybe we got more bang for are buck back in the 70's and early 80's.Just a Thought.

I do believe the question of longevity of the Grados, like the ADCs and Sonuses, is more a question of suspension life than stylus life (all reports of dead Grados I've heard so far are dead suspensions): the heavier the tonearm, the lesser its lifespan, the lighter the tonearm, the longer the lifespan. I use my Grado Platinum on an ultra-low mass Black Widow for this reason, and Dave's SME IIIS is also an ultra-low-mass tonearm. Stylus life depends on so many factors the spread is probably quite large, from 500 hours to more than a thousand, depending on condition of records, stylus hygiene and so on.

Ecclectique, I was pretty surprised myself. I had two Sonus stylus assemblies (not the bodies, can't remember why) in my junk drawer and went for a Sonus cart I saw on Ebay about two months ago. It sounded pretty good, but when I substituted the old styli, it sounded just about like you'd expect a 30 to 40 year old cart to sound: dead. So I figured I had nothing to lose by slathering the rubber suspension with some stuff called "Re-Grip," a rubber cleaner and "revitalizer" I use on reel-to-reel tape deck pinch rollers (yeah, you can probably guess my age). The stuff brought the old styli back from the dead and the cart sounds GREAT, definitely better than the ADC. No sign of cantilever sag, yet. These carts definitely love the SME III (mine is damped), by the way. Dave

Dopogue.A little off topic here but Holy Tamoli man! You still have an original sonus blue that didn't suffer from stylus fatique? That is truly a revelation to me sir. The sonus blue was my all time favorite mm cartridge with a high frequency reproduction that was the best I have ever heard period... bar none. Mounted in a black widow tonearm it tracked like a thoroughbred and was dead quiet to boot. Unfortunately... I went through 4 of them and none of them lasted more than a couple of hundred hours before the cantilever sagged and simply gave up the ghost. Prior to the sonus blue I also used the adc xlm and still have it in my collection although I have not listened to it in years. To my ears and many of my audio friends as well: the sonus blue outclassed the adc by a wide margin. Unfortunately,everyones sonus blues suffered the same stylus fatique fate in very short order. PS: Bet I can guess your age give or take 5%. Just teasing you a bit here sir.

Chill out, Have a beer and relax.iF i gave the impression I was attacking the honesty of Mr. Chapis I did not mean to infer that.I was just trying to bring out the differences of opiniion from what a dealer said to me and what was stated by Mr. Chapis ,thats all. Enjoy the music, I will too.

If Mr.Chapis states his cartridge last that long I will take his word for it.I just wanted to hear it from the engineer's skillful hands.WHAT HE SAYS IS THE GOSPEL TRUTH.
Actually I was surprised to talk with him directly.He seems
like a very frank and candid man,and I'm happy he's still with the Grado company.

I am amazed that someone would respecfully disagree with the chief engineer at Grado on how long one of "his" cartridges last. This is of course based on cleaning your records and stylus on a regular basis.
So do you think that the chief engineer of Grado does not know what he is talking about? But maybe you have the kind of credentials that Mr. Chapis does, I don't know you, so I apologize for my ignorance if you do.
If you don't, and after hearing what Mr. Chapis' take is on cartridge life is, aren't you the least bit interested in talking with him to understand how he comes up with his conclusion of 5000 hours?

I'd go with Chapis. A thousand hours is ridiculous. And as far as "deteriorating over time" is concerned, my current favorite MM cartridges date from the 1960s and 1970s (ADC XLM and Sonus Blue) and sound fantastic. The dealer just wants to sell cartridges, though I give him credit for at least carrying them! Good luck, Dave