Wet Cleaning the Stylus

Lewm,

Very good question, which Fjn04 addressed nicely. Others do the same or similar for just the reason you noted, including my ex (who first discovered/gleaned/invented this use for the ME).

DIYAudio folks prefer to use a penny. Audiogoners tend to use a quarter. Private audio club members use gold doubloons. It all works!

Steady fingers, caution and good closeup vision are required for the ME-on-a-toothpick method. I have those, but for any who don't, dipping into a (stabilized) chunk of ME cleans nearly as well... and better than dipping into little vats of goo, a blob of Silly Putty or dry brushing alone.

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Czarivey,

Nandric's cautionary post was reasonable, for the reason I explained in mine. No qualified chemist would opine that this is safe without knowing details of the chemical makeup of the cleaner, stylus glue and elastomers in the cartridge. IOW, you're just guessing.

You run an audio store. Do you recommend wet stylus cleaning to your customers? If so, do you at least warn them that this may void the warranty from some cartridge manufacturers? You owe them that information, regardless of your opinion as to its safety.

Dhcod- I also use an EMT, great cartridges BTW. I discontinued use of the Onzow, based on recommendation! So now 90% of the time I use a dry brush.
The other 10% of the time is either ME or wet brush. The latter with just one drop of Disc Doctor. When Cleaning my Dynavector, I use ME more often, and and still dry/wet brush. So yes, as Doug mentioned, do check with specific manufacturer.

Personally I do wet stylus cleaning only in case if gets contaminated so can't clean it dry. Otherwise I'm too lazy to open the bottle, drop on the brush and never had any kind of thought about it being not a good idea after all.

Had this product been meant for the audiophile industry, it would cost ten times more than what it actually does.

Shhh!

Consider what is going on at the stylus and cantilever level. The crud build up is basically just dirt, bits of vinyl (hopefully not much vinyl) and some chemical residue. What is needed to clean it is just some mild detergent solution and a light physical scrub.

I've used a stylus cleaner kit I was given with a Lyra Clavis da Capo and also the Disc Doctor stylus cleaning kit brush and liquid. Both clean the stylus and cantilever quite adequately.

IMO, it is necessary to use a wet brush to actually loosen and remove the build-up on the cantilever and stylus. A Magic Eraser might work OK for the stylus, but there is a minimal benefit for the cantilever. In my opinion.