Stylus condition ?

[Radio Fixer]

This stylus has been in the Shure75  6 cartridge for decades and when we used to play LPs.

Might be doing that again soon as I have an Cambridge P40 AMP coming my way for some hopefully minor attention.

I wondered if the stylus was now a lathe tool and so took some pics with my electronic microscope.  It looks OK to me and sounds good in my setup.  But what do the team think?

   
   
   
   

thanks Gary

[ppppenguin]

To my relatively untutored eyes it looks fine. Perhaps a bit of fluff around it in the last photo.

[roadster]

It looks pretty filthy to me, but I have always been a bit obsessive about stylus condition! You need much higher magnification to be able to judge the condition; around 100x. What you are looking for are any flats. The tip should have a smooth radius and closely examine the flanks where it will contact the groove walls for any flats starting to form. If you get your lighting correct any flats will show as bright spots. You should be able to find some pictures on line showing stylus wear.
Rod

[Radio Fixer]

Thanks Rod.
I wanted to get higher mag but it was the best this cheap but useful microscope could do.
Maybe the easiest thing would just be to buy a new stylus, if I can find one.
Anyone no where is a reliable source?

thanks Gary

[Hartley118]

In my experience, it’s best to examine your stylus through an optical magnification of x100 or so. That will enable you to spot any flats on what should look a smoothly curved tip.

Chances are it’s probably OK.

Martin

[PerdioPal]

You can get some very good optical microscopes new for not a great deal of money https://www.bresseruk.com/Bresser-Junior/Microscopy/ or just buy a new stylus!