Would Anybody Be Interested In A Free Bottle Of Stylus Cleaner From Shure?
Apr 23 '07 (Updated Nov 23 '08)
The Bottom Line Finding a bottle of stylus {needle} cleaning fluid need not be a frustrating and expensive chore. Try this little "freebie" by Shure. It's the best!
Phono cartridges are the best! They play those wonderful bits of vinyl better than the doggone bytes of digital any day! Analog forever! Long live Vinyl! Well all that is well and good but that wonderful phono cartridge needs a bit of maintenance occasionally.
The stylus must be replaced annually and also must be cleaned during the course of its natural life. Here is where one who is pondering the charming thought of returning to record playing might have a slight dilemma.
Most modern electronics stores just don't sell you those $5 bottles of stylus fluid anymore. You could...of course...visit your local high end dealer and purchase some very excellent cleaner from the likes of companies such as LAST and spend about twenty bucks for a wee bottle of the forsaken stuff or...you could find yourself one of those old aspirin bottles that you might have not tossed yet and recycle it by following my instructions for a bit 'o needle cleaning home brew.
Down through the forty years of my love for this hobby I find that Shure Brothers is my all-time favorite phono cartridge cartridge and stylus manufacturer and I can almost forgive them for moving their production plant out of the country and into Mexico immediately after they waived the American flag by boasting that their top-of-the-line V-15 Type V model was designed and built right here in the U.S.A. They even sent you a fifty dollar savings bond for purchasing the unit!...More flag waving.
At any rate...their Hi-Tracks and Super Tracks were considered to be the best at their respective price points for giving one clean neutral sound. When viewing their owners manual for the ever popular modern-day M97xE phono cartridge...I discovered a little section on stylus maintenance.
I wish that I had taken notice sooner as I mistakenly used a 100% solution of isopropyl alcohol to clean my beloved wonderful-sounding Ortofon OM5E stylus. Oh no "Sam-Pro"...you didn't! Yes I did...what a dumbhead!
It did clean the stylus but it also managed to strip the diamond gem of its wonderful polish and cause rapid wear on the assembly's cantilever also. Okay...you never stop learning and the day you do is...truly your final one.
You gotta love a company like Shure that saves you money by suggesting your audiophile-loving return to vinyl need nothing more than a top performing $50 cartridge that includes wonderful mounting hardware and a toolkit while giving you a simple formula for making cleaning fluid!
OK, Dudes And Dudettes...The Almighty Formula Itself!
Remember when your grandpappy told you that all that high-fellootin' needle cleaning stuff was probably nothin' more than watered down alcohol? Well...duh...he was right!
Simply make a mixture of half isopropyl alcohol {c'mon...you probably got a bottle of the stuff in your medicine cabinet} and half distilled water. The water can be purchased at your local supermarket along with the isopropyl alcohol for about a dollar each.
You can save even more money by simply boiling a clean kettle of water and letting it sit for cooling purposes. Then fill an old thoroughly cleaned pickle, jam or mayo jar with a 50/50 mix of the distilled water and alcohol. Tightly close the cap and shake shake shake...shake your booty...sorry...I was getting lost in my oldies on vinyl there for a moment!
Mark the jar accordingly and then pour out some of the brew into a smaller empty pill bottle. Ayy!...An old pill bottle and pickle jar ya say????...Now that's recycling...man!
It would also be wise to mark the bottle as stylus cleaner so there are no accidents in your future. Also...other kinds of alcohol such as witch hazel are not recommended.
When cleaning your stylus...use a small clean artist paint brush or stylus brush like the one I received from an old Shure cart purchase. Always clean from back-to-front. Other motions may clip your stylus. Do not use the fluid on dust brushes that are integral parts of stylus assemblies...just the needle portion itself.
In Conclusion:
The formula works wonders for my various cartridges while protecting their highly polished diamond needles and the small bottle should last a long time. Heck...I recall that my tiny bottle of A-T stylus cleaner lasted a good five years and that bottle wasn't even half the size of my home-grown stuff. In the end your high end dealer may be a bit less richer for the experience than you but then again...you might remind him that the $20 to $30 you saved on stylus cleaner has now afforded you a copy of his great-sounding audiophile pressing on vinyl of The Guess Who's "American Woman"!
Love ya and would LUV to hear from ya!...PJS Series II
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Epinions.com ID:
sam-pro
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Member: Peter J Sammon II
Location: The Bloomfield Burying Ground, USA
Reviews written: 218
Trusted by: 122 members
About Me:
Every once in awhile something great arrives at relatively low cost to you...Priceless!
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