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Gear / Technical Help => Playback Forum => Topic started by: macdaddy on December 21, 2005, 03:58:53 PM

Title: i never knew how fragile a stylus could be...
Post by: macdaddy on December 21, 2005, 03:58:53 PM: until i broke one. snapped the f*cker right off...

good thing i have a spare. i will take pics later :P

bummer.

in comparing it to a new one, it looks like the dealio was pretty worn, anyway, but still...

now i gotta spend time getting everything calibrated properly. again... argh!!!

misery loves company - have any of you fellow vinyl lovers ever snapped a stylus..? (+t's are pending ;) )
Title: Re: i never knew how fragile a stylus could be...
Post by: zowie on December 21, 2005, 04:10:59 PM: I bent a shank once (and wouldn't risk using them after that). After the third or fourth drink I only play cds.

OTHER people have snapped my styluses.
Title: Re: i never knew how fragile a stylus could be...
Post by: bgalizio on December 21, 2005, 04:17:59 PM: I've always been very careful with my turntable, but once snapped a stylus when changing an old one out. That sucked.
Title: Re: i never knew how fragile a stylus could be...
Post by: JasonR on December 21, 2005, 04:20:17 PM: Ouch... that could be a very expensive mistake depending on the cost of your cartridge! I don't think I'd easily forgive myself for breaking my Sumiko Blue Point Special.

- Jason
Title: Re: i never knew how fragile a stylus could be...
Post by: macdaddy on December 21, 2005, 05:08:26 PM: it was a grado reference platinum that i was going to have retipped sooner than later, but it still was a shock...

holding the extreme phono stylus treatment case, and slipped, knowcked the plastic right into the stylus, and bent it straight up to the cartridge body. in my attempt to bend it back to normal, i snapped the thing clean off...

i have a replacement grado ref plat cart here that is brand new, so i will plug it in soon...

but you just cant beat these things up - gone are the days of cleaning the stylus with my fingers :P the good ones are too expensive to be f*cking around like that...

+t's all 'round.
Title: Re: i never knew how fragile a stylus could be...
Post by: zowie on December 22, 2005, 01:27:30 PM: I damaged a standard blue point and replaced it with a special. Someone trashed the special on me. when it probably had under 200 hours.

After that I switched to a V-15, not because it sounds better but because its got a better protected and replaceable stylus.

I could go on. The upshot is I'd never buy a $$$ cartridge. I would have a hard time justifying spending a lot on a component with an inherantly limited life. Given the history in my house, it'd be throwing away money.
Title: Re: i never knew how fragile a stylus could be...
Post by: jpschust on December 22, 2005, 03:53:50 PM: yah i am extremely careful with my sumiko blackbird. thing is pricey.
Title: Re: i never knew how fragile a stylus could be...
Post by: bgalizio on December 22, 2005, 06:11:45 PM: Forgot to mention that my stylus break was on the el cheapo technics turntable, not the Marantz (which I no longer have :( ).
Title: Re: i never knew how fragile a stylus could be...
Post by: macdaddy on December 22, 2005, 07:26:15 PM: Quote from: jpschust on December 22, 2005, 03:53:50 PM
yah i am extremely careful with my sumiko blackbird. thing is pricey.

how do you like it..? have you auditioned any of the grado wood cartridges..?