How long does a stylus last?

Nowadays, does anyone ever use a microscope to examine a stylus? I recall pictures of diamond stylii with a couple of hundred hours on them showing obvious wear. Perhaps the line contact stylus wears less, but by the same token would degrade more with wear. 1000 hours used to be considered a reasonable maximum.

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Stuart,
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I would highly recommend that you clean every record with Disc Doctor, RRL or Audio Intelligent cleaning fluids with either Disc Doctor or Last brushes and a good record cleaning machine like the VPI or Loricraft(this one is great but quite expensive).
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Every record even brand new LP's have the mold release compound on them left from the manufacturing process.
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I would not think of playing a record regardless of how good it looks (even if brand new) on the surface without giving it a thorough cleaning. Playing clean records will definitely extend your stylus life.
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Rgds,
Larry
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Agree with El. 1000 hours average.

Eldartford: those photos of worn stylii were when the stylus was set at 5 grams+, and records were NEVER cleaned.
Now, with 1 gram to 3 gram stylus pressures, and cleaned records... (us LAST stylus preservative too...)
I can see 5,000 hours...

Hi Stuart. I got 8 years [approximately 3000 hours] out of my original 1981 koetsu rosewood before I sent it to Japan for a rebuild.I then got another 12 years out of the rebuilt one before I sent it out again[approximately 3000 hours] . Keeping your records clean is imperative to long life as well as stylus pressure. Mine was used in an et-2 tone arm at 1.5 grams tracking force for most of it's playback life. My records are cleaned with a vpi 16.5.