Contact Line stylus - gathering dust on stylus. Help!


Hi everyone,

I recently purchased a moving iron cartridge with a "high profile contact line" stylus.  I bought it because of the reviews that I had read, not because of the stylus profile.  I've had it for over a month now, and while I like the sound there is one VERY significant problem.  The stylus gathers so much dust on it that I can't get through one side of a record without having to get up multiple times to clean the stylus.  I've tried 5 or 6 other cartridges on my set up over the last few years without any difficulties.  I always clean the stylus before every side, usually by dipping it in Moon Gel.  With the other cartridges there is seldom any dust visible in the gel.  With the contact line stylus, there are large deposits of dust every time I dip it in the gel (sometimes even two or three times during the same track).

In over a month I have yet to get through one side of an album without having to clean it.  Often, I have to clean it 4-5 times per side.  This happens on every record, even newly cleaned ones.  It happens whether I've just cleaned the apartment and dusted or whether it's been a while.  I just dropped in two of my old cartridges to compare, and they sailed though record after record without any difficulty.  I guess I could have it re-tipped with a different stylus profile, but I hate to pay to have a brand new cart re-tipped.  

Any thoughts?  (and please, no jokes about my poor housekeeping :))

Thanks, Scott
smrex13
smrex13:
Based upon the amount of dust or other junk you are picking up, your cleaning method must be partially to blame. I have that stylus profile on my main 3 carts and, despite others who believe that a stylus should be cleaned after every side of a record is played or at least after every record is played, I usually clean mine after playing 2 and sometimes 3 records with very little junk on my stylus ( usually with Lrya spt brush solution, other times with Onzow zerodust) 
Try a rinse with reagent grade (or at least distilled water) after each cleaning with whichever Record Doctor fluid you use and then use a Zerostat gun or, better yet, a Furutech destat which will greatly reduce static and dust arising out of the vacuum procedure. You may also want to switch cleaning fluids. I'm a fan of Audio Intelligent fluids and the 3 step process---enzyme/super cleaner/rinse. In any event, it sounds like your biggest issue is static static which constantly draws dust to the record like a magnet 
My friend once had a DECCA Reference. He had to sell it because it was a dust magnet. Well, he purchased a handfull of quality vintage MMs and after having found the best to get near or maybe equal the mighty Reference sold the rest.
Weird carts anyway, I have used Micro Ridges (and Line Contacts in lesser extent) for nearly thirty years without serious dust/dirt issues.

The stylus is glued in the cantilever at peculiar angle so you should

try different SRA or VTA adjustment. If this angle is wrong your stylus

is not tracing the groove but plough the groove. If your ''dust'' is black

this may mean particles from the record and not ''dust''.

nandric

The stylus is glued in the cantilever at peculiar angle so you should try different SRA or VTA adjustment.

Sorry, but this is completely mistaken. The VTA/SRA for a line contact stylus is the same as for any other stylus with the sole exception of conical stylii, which really have no VTA/SRA. It is true that some manufacturers use slightly different VTA/SRAs, but the differences are slight. If the VTA/SRA is truly "peculiar," you have a defective cartridge.

Not all stylii are glued into place, btw.


i find that using zerostat before and after a sweep with a carbon brush helps minimize dust attraction to the LP

that and frequent use of a stylus brush/zerodust blob

of course, a recently wet cleaned record to start with is essential