still find it hard to believe such detailed music comes from those grooves read by a stylus

It's rare to see anyone with passion these days! It's very cool that you take the time to create these gems. Thank you!

Spot on information ! ... if your record is skipping or not sounding right after properly cleaning the record ... properly clean the stylus ... this will solve 99% of most problems. Do not use stylus cleaning gel pads !

Wow, VERY interesting piece of information. Excellent work, I can definitely learn from this vid, thanks Craig!

You're a storyteller by nature. I love following your videos, Craig. Even though at times you go deep in details that most people don't necessarily need or want to know, you have a way of making it fun and accessible. Cheers!

This is vinyl university course. You explain things based on evidence and proof rather than perception and imagination. Thats what I like the most in you channel.

Wow, excellent video. Amazing stuff. All your vinyl videos are awesome. This one is the best. Very informative. Can't wait to see that Supertramp grooves video you mention. Keep up the great work!

I have a magic eraser pad that I use after every album side. And a stylus brush with short tightly packed bristles for occasional cleaning.

One of the very best tutorials on stylus / cartridge inspection! Kudos.

Hi Craig, I use my grandads old Jewelers Loupe Magnifier to regularly check and clean my stylus . I use it with an LED mini torch which I keep by the Turntable. I find after 40 yrs that this system really works for me. Thanks love your vids. Ado.

Very good video Craig. I appreciate your patience with the inspection and cleaning. I learned a lot and doing the same things to mine now. Thanks and keep up the good content.

Hi Craig Just found your exceptional video in Stylus under the microscope. As usual fantast just watching you at work .And the part that caught my eye was when you cleaned the stylus in distilled water and took your time cautiously and meticulously brushing . Brilliant video . Tonight is music night in my Attic with a few beers . I will first brush my stylus as you did then sit and enjoy some music knowing i have followed your lead to the best of my ability's.Thank you so much for the time and effort you put into these videos . Gerald UK

Thank you for doing this video, the way you explain things is very clear, Enjoyed every minute of it and of course it was very helpful

I tried your distilled water method and it works like a charm!

This one idea could be a whole additional KZfaq channel. You gotta keep coming back to this when you get a new stylus, it’s gold!

Love all your interesting videos. Not only are we enjoying our music but a great hobby to go along with it. I often think of throwing my TV out of the window as there is so much boring garbage on it. Turn that awful TV and phone off and play some vinyl. Pure heaven. All I need is my MK1 Ford Cortina back in the garage and I'm reliving the glorious 70's.

You are the man Craig!! VINYL IS FINAL!

Absolutely fascinating! LOVED it! Goodness, how I love people who are detail-oriented. Good Job!

Vinyl IS final, the vinyl frontier!

This... Good sir ...is the most educational and informative game changing video I have ever watched! Thank you Thank You Thank You for the time effort and money that went into this.

really nice. as a new vinyl listener, your tips are incredible help. your channel and videos have started a life long hobby for me and you also have a life long subscriber now! wish i could send you pictures of my set up and recieve some ideas what to do next as of speaker placement, furniture etc.

Craig, this is one of your best videos. Interesting and really informative ... Thank you 👍

Thank you very much for this educational video. I'm definitely taking your advise.

This has been so interesting I'm new to vinyl (This millennium at least) and am really grateful to this channel :)

This is the best video about stylii on yt that i have found. Excellent work. Thanks very much!

I bought this microscope a few days ago before seeing this video. I haven’t so far been able to get the level of detail shown here. However, I’ll now go back and try again and give it a little bit more time and patience. Many thanks for this video!

I'm a +1 on the Wow. Great job, very insightful. The back and forth comparisons were Amazing, Learned more about dirt on needles then I wanted to know (or see)! :)

Really good and interesting video. Thanks for sharing Craig.

Really informative and genuinely interesting! Best thing I've seen about stylii.

Great vid again, Craig. Super interesting to see exactly why your record is so hard to play! Also, another classic example of maybe not having to spend too much money on products.

Always interesting and educated video. Please continue! Thank you

very informative...i really admire you for having the patience and the passion to take those microscopic pictures of those stylus and the record grooves...i know it takes a lot of practice and patience and you manage to do it...congratulation...

This was super informative and has inspired me to clean my turntable's stylus far more often than I have been. Thank you!

Another excellent and informative video Craig, thanks for taking the time to create this. Looking forward to the Supertramp close groove analysis :-)

Superb video thank you for sharing. I have seen those magnifying USB cameras advertised now I fancy one. At the moment I just use a jeweller’s Lupe but it’s obviously not as good. The brush and distilled water is something that I use for my stylus cleaning but I didn’t realise that I should be doing a clean every time I play a record.

Thanks Craig another interesting and informative presentation

Thank you so much for this video! I purchased the little gadget, and indeed: what I discovered was as you said! So, I cleaned it with distilled water and a little brush, and the result is flawless! I can even see the tiny solder punctures now (on my ortofon concorde 40 anniversary). How beautiful to see that little gold coated diamond up close! Thanks a million!!!! :) :) :)

Love the pictures. Came here to see what microscope you are using as I would like to replace my optical microscope for stylus checks. Pictures are nice for seeing how clean your records and stylus are, but realize, the pictures shown here are not the best in terms of knowing when the stylus is worn. The very tip will look the same pretty much forever from the side. The very tip isn't touching the grooves. The sides of the diamond just "above" the tip are touching the grooves and flattening out over time. Best way to see this is by looking down on the tip with a scope. Have lighting on the left and right side. Flat spots will reveal themselves on the left and right sides as white dots. A new stylus won't have much to see but a worn stylus will have white spots that get bigger over time. As they get bigger they almost start to meet at the tip - well past when the stylus should have been replaced.

Excellent...! This is the best using a microscope with/for a turntable setup/inspection I`ve seen to date and,I watch a LOT of turntable video`s on youtube,well done fella,"you-are-a-STAR". V.F.E.

Been looking into getting one of these microscopes myself to check my stylus, etc. After seeing this video, it's a no brainer now. Very well done! Thanks.

Now this is the kind of content on KZfaq we need! Very informative and educational! Nicely made images as well (I know how difficult those micros are to operate). I really appreciate it that you made all those images yourself; most people just rip pictures from other sources.

Great video, very interesting, handy to know how we can check our stylus and see how dirty or how worn it is. Superb post.

How fascinating this video is, thank you sir for taking us to the depth of stylus and vinyl.

Fascinating insight,thank you very much. I looked at my stylus recently under a stereo microscope and found it very interesting. Its a TC8G from a 1959 Ferguson 623RG ,pretty mucky so I've purchased a new one.All the best from sunny Wales 😊

Very informative! the amount of dirt is mind blowing, thanks craig

Hi Craig Found this video very interesting, you had my full attention. Thank you for taking the time and to share your findings with us. Also I love the way you represent your videos. Great guy! Many thanks. Jacques

Amazing, very nice video Craig. Seems like the magic eraser does a better job than the zero dust in my opinion.

Beautiful shots! After having attempted and realized the difficulty in getting some decent pictures of my stylus, I'm very impressed with the quality of your setup!

Fascinating video. Seeing is believing. Proof that you don't need to spend a lot of money to do a simple task and make it effective. Thanks!

Thanks man, now I will be cleaning my stylus with my stylus brush and water, no need to buy other expensive stuff. Greetings from Mexico!

Hey Craig, thanks for your videos. I enjoy them a lot. Greetings from Mexico!

Criminally underrated channel

Love the video! Cant wait to see the follow up video on needle replacement and various wear times by stylus type.

Thanks for the video After watching this I only use a stylus brush and water and I clean my stylus every record great video thank you so much I have learned a lot from your channel

This was a great video, thank you! I also have the AT440, and it is absolutely brilliant. Cheers!

A great, informative, and very detailed video! Thumbs up. This video is another one of my favourites, Craig. I also learned a couple of things about a dirty stylus, and I am (in italics) surprised that a stylus can pick up plenty of dust from a new, clean record. I would expect a very small amount of dust, and dirt; but it looked substantial to me. I imagine, and assumed that a record-making plant is as clean, and free of dust as possible! Very good photographs that show exactly what you explain, and demonstrate. I look forward to taking a look at another LP's grooves, deep under the surface - of another video. I know what it is like to handle, and work with very small things, you have a lot of patience, and perseverance, Craig. Excellent work! Myself, I've recently added one small drop of alcohol to a small felt mat that came as a combination record, and stylus cleaning kit bought many years ago. Afterward, the record sounded clearer. I'm going to use a brush later, as you advised. Further, this time I've bought 91% alcohol to clean my records.

Thanks for posting another informative video. I have recently revived my old turntable thanks in part to one of your videos and am enjoying myself quite a bit. You mention the high cost of the zero dust system and I have to agree. Perhaps there are styli costly enough to justify such a purchase, but I am on a tight budget. I have found that the product "moon gel" that drummers use to dampen their drums gets the same results as zero dust at a far far far far far lower price!

In 1981 I bought a Shibata stylus for a ridiculous low price, for my Audio technica AT90E cartridge. Diamonds DO last forever!

Fascinating! Now we know why the boffins at Philips and Sony invented the CD. Distilled or deionised water is one of the best cleaners you can get. To get them spotless you'd need an alcohol to go along with it. Although that's not recommended as it can dissolve any glue in the making of the stylus.

Absolutely amazing stuff! You and I are probably the same vintage and yet I am learning so much from you. Cheers!

Thank you. You pop up to a problem I have with one record. I have bought two LP's from the same group but in two different shops on internet. My stylus jumps at the same place, exactly at the same place, unbelievable! It is a record mistake, I think. Now, you show me how to do by myself to know what it is and maybe how to fix it. Thank you, again.

Very, very informative, thank you very much!

Thank you.Like always, nice video, well explained, and helpful tips.

Wow !! Can't wait to get my digital microscope !! Great Video, Thanks!!

I'm going to get so involved in this, I can hear the future. "Tom, will you just play the album"!

Awesome instructional video Craig. Very fun to see the differences, and how the playing of a single side can contaminate the stylus completley... Have a nice week and best regards to you and your family. 17

Oh, so very excellent. Tried 2 kinds of dry brushes to get what looked hairs wrapped around the stylus. Bought the ZeroDust for $40 US - nearly useless. Tried the magic eraser, didn’t quite do the trick. Wet stylus brush - success! And yes, I’m cleaning the stylus after every played side - sometimes twice/thrice on a record I haven’t played in a while. Thanks muchly!

My Shure N75 has 1300 hours on it and still sounds pretty good. Under the microscope the tip profile is an interesting sort of 'grey area' ie. the tip is *just* starting to morph into more of a pyramid shape than a perfect dome, but it is still fairly rounded looking. I would suggest to be safe not going past 2000 hours, which is incidentally the life quoted for a diamond stylus on some of the first microgroove LPs released back in the 1950s.

Recently took a look at my S245e Empire stylus under a optical microscope. It had some caked on grunge but I was able to clean it up fairly well. Could see the diamond tip on the metal post well. At $100 for a Ortofon 2M Red I would definitely want one with the diamond mounted vertically on the cantilever( not leaning to one side)! Seems if you spend the money for a nude diamond you definitely should see what you are getting and not have to take any manufacturers word for it. If I could have seen my old Empire stylus before I bought it, I would have chose another cartridge. I sure hope the AT95 that comes with my RT81 at least looks like an elliptical. Thanks for the video.

Wow! Beautiful work in this video. I have one of those microscopes and checked a stylus I was replacing. It was very eye opening but a lot of what I saw as wear was probably debris. Great job here. Thank you.

IT'S CRAIG!! awesome vid.

I use the exact same brush technique. I never told anyone because I didnt want to hear all the guff I would get from everyone who think you will ruin your stylus. Just be gentle and you will be fine. I also use a H2o/ isopropyl alcohol 50/50 mix for my brush. No need to spend $14 on a little bottle of liquid when I can mix my own. Ill have to give the Magic Eraser a try also. Thanks!

And, again, you rock, man! I'm a big fan of your videos down here in Brazil, and I've used some of them in my classes (I hope you're ok with that). My students love them! I'm an English teacher.

I am a BIG fan of preemptive replacement of stylii.

06:04 - YUCK! This is one of the reasons I ❤ Craig and Vinyl TV! But this always cracks me up 🤣😂

i bought one of those microscopes and took tons of pictures like you did. i even had my original stanton needle from when i was young. i was able to see how well i had taken care of it. i use the same methods you do minus the $90 zero dust.

I learned so much. Thank you!

Look I'm a record collector myself and stylus maintains is the one thing I hate about this hobby but other than that I highly recommend u get into it. Ps i started a year ago when I got a turntable for my 15 birthday i had no idea how delicate records were i ended up scratching my first lp.

Superb video, quite informative and well produced with excellent supporting images. Looking forward to more from you.

Great video Craig. I´ve had my microscope for about a year now, but only just got it working a few weeks ago. Amazing what we can see with 1000x zoom. Thank you for sharing :) Vinyl is Final

Good information! Thank you!

Did the exact same thing. Difference: I used my DSLR (Canon EOS 50D) I put a teleconverter (2.0x) on the body, then 3 macrorings, then my 35-105 lens on top (quite a contraption, I know) zoomed OUT instead of in (sounds rediculous, I know, but that's the way this combination works) tripod, set my camera to live view (10x) in order to focus as sharp as possible and THEN I got a clear picture of the dirt on my Denon DL110. After a few stages of cleaning (distilled water plus a small brush) it looked brandnew again.

I have been using the Audio-Technica AT607 stylus cleaning formula for some 40 years. May be an expensive way to get a little brush and a tiny bottle of distilled water but it works great (I don’t know if it’s distilled water or something more, but raised suspicions when I saw your excellent video). Also, back in the day, the local high end stereo shop had a free service; I would take my Signet TK7e in every six months or so and we would look at the stylus with their 100x stereo optical microscope. It was easy to see the wear. Audio Consultants is no more, so the usb microscope may be a great way to check the stylus. And certainly cheaper than a stereo optical microscope!

I have one of those cameras. I never thought of using it that way. Very good thinking. 👌 Those stylus cleaners can now be found on eBay for less than $20.

When I was a Technics main agent in central London I was given an optical microscope with the Panasonic brand name on it. Technics had brought out a range of Boron tube cantilever cartridges and you could compare them against the top end Sure cartridges. I have just brought a USB microscope so I will give it a try and look for some gunge.

Excellent video, indeed! Wish I were a vynil enthusiast, what actually I am NOT. I like a lot your videos, even though I don't use vynil records anymore and haven't the less intention to return to them. But I pass a very good time viewng your calm and friendly explanations, even they are on a subject that lost any interest for me long time ago. So, you do a great job, don't doubt it. Many thanks and all the best. (BTW.: I'm a subscriber of your channel. No one kows when or how can learn new things. An open mind is the best recipe in audio in particular and in life, in general).

Very interesting and informative Craig. Thanks.

Thank you for sharing. I never knew how to check the styli on my record player. And the other information about the vinyl records is interesting and also helpful. I just subscribed so I won't miss any other info.

that was GREAT! Very informative thanks for taking the time to show what you learned!

Great job! Thanks so much for the video. Very educational. Magic Eraser (which I have) and distilled water with brush, got it. Passing on a $60 gummy pad.

Hey Craig I just cannot fathom why it’s a good idea to use diamond, the hardest mineral, as a stylus when records are such soft objects. It’s just inviting damage. Wouldn’t it be better to use a soft stylus tip and change it more often. I am getting the brush after watching this. Thanks

Wow this is one of your best videos yet. Love all your content, always looking forward to seeing the next. - Definitely picking up one of these microscopes for myself, even if it’s just for fun.

Excellent video. I am just getting started in the hobby and I value your knowledge on vinyl records. Your vids have helped me make some decisions about the direction I am going. I had a few vinyl records as a teenager in the 70s and I got rid of them over time as work and family commitments became more pressing. I am so new to the hobby again, that I only have one vinyl that l I have purchased to date. The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi (I love classical music). Another vinyl I hope to re-purchase is Rick Wakeman's Journey to the Center of the Earth. I do like classic rock, jazz and a few other genres as well. Keep up the good work!

I love it when you slap your stylus up against the magnification

I recently bought that same microscope on Amazon for $22. It really works but can make you crazy using it. But I did get a picture of my 30 year old AT-140ML cartridge and was surprised to see how good it looks.

Just watched your video. I bought the same digital microscope last year and checked the wear of my Goldring 1042 and a new 1022GX and my Nagaoka MP11 styli. Just like you, I even cleaned them with the magic eraser and the tacky thingy and came to the same conclusion as your good self. Although I prefer to use proper stylus cleaning fluid once a week instead of distilled water. The problem I had was trying to identify what stylus wear looks like on a Fitz-Geiger stylus for my old 1042. It’s easy enough on conical shaped styli but difficult on more complex shapes like Shibata types and mine.

Great work Craig, this one is going to get you a lot of hits or Views in the land of KZfaq.

Thank you very much. Great video. I looked this information long time ago. Definitely I will buy this device.

I been wanting to do something like this with a camera. Amazing photos. I need to get one of those. Thank you very much for sharing.

Excellent video, very usefull ….