Should I Brush My Cartridge After Each Use?

RE the appraisives vs. solvents question; don't forget that we are dealing with diamonds here!! I would be much more concerned with solvents attacking the adhesive and the suspension.

Hadn't thought of the adhesive gluing the stylus onto the cantelever. I had thought of migration of solvent up the cantelever to the suspension. Doesn't seem to be a problem for either though.

This is all waaaaaaaay too much work; I am going back to 8-Track or perhaps Elcasette.

Ultrakaz,

Thanks for the tip on the KOS. I don't know if smaller pores would clean better, but they might reduce the risk of snagging the stylus.

Piedpiper,

We're on the same page re: the lazy, hazy, crazy Roy. Wire doesn't matter. VTA/SRA changes aren't audible. Scraping dirt against a plastic groovewall with a diamond chisel at hundreds of psi will magically clean the groove without damaging the plastic. As you said, whatever floats your boat.

Two seconds of ME (or KOS) after each side is enough to prevent all buildup, but it's nowhere near abrasive enough to damage a diamond - as Swampwalker pointed out. In fact, if a stylus is neglected and the buildup gets thick/stubborn enough, the ME won't even remove that.

Just last week I saved a ZYX UNIverse that hadn't been cleaned in a year. It sounded horrible and the owner was worried the cartridge was toast. The ME wasn't aggressive enough to remove all the baked on crud so I resorted to Linn's trick, a few delicate swipes with a sliver of 2,000 grit silicone carbide paper. Voila! Stylus looks like new, cartridge sounds like new.

As Jeff Jones said, you do what you have to do. For emergency rehabs a little tough love Linn style works wonders, and so does single malt!

Do I brush the cart or my teeth with the single malt????