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98.97.60.14
I have a Grado ZF3 mounted to a Music Hall MMF2 turntable. This has sounded very synergistic in my system. It went a few months without being played.
Now, it sounds like the stylus is not staying in the groove, and will even skip across towards the center sometimes.
I ruled out VTF by confirming that it still floats near 0. I cannot figure out what could have changed or gone wrong. Could the stylus suspension have suddenly failed? The cartridge body still looks parallel to the record.
I clean each record w/ a Discwasher type of thing before each side, and apply Stylast to the stylus.
Should a buy a new stylus, or what? Unless sudden failure is a thing, I have no idea what it could be.
What ideas do you have?
Edits: 10/16/24Follow Ups:
Here is what the $20 USB microscope does. I will take a picture of the new stylus next week so that I/we know what's normal.
nada aqui
it happens. Time for a new stylus.
clean the needle in order to figure out what's happening. Dipping straight down into Mr. Clean Magic Erasure a few times followed by dry brushing or a brush with isopropyl alcohol from back to front should clean it up to look like the picture below. A real microscope will also help with resolution. I found all my scopes at thrift stores or estate sales.
An extremely dirty or missing stylus tip will cause the problems you are having. There's no way your stylus can penetrate the groove in that condition.
Thanks. Now it's clear to me that this $20 'scope may be worth that much, but it's not good enough for this work, so I need a better one. Can you tell me what you used here? What magnification, etc.?
Either way, I will have a new stylus next week.
Now I'm trying to view my Goldring stylus but it's even smaller and I can't make out any details.
The setup with that camera was very awkward and time consuming in order to place the camera lens over the top of the microscope eyepiece. However, it was very cheap, since I already had the camera, and the scope was inherited from my biology father.
The microscope was an old Bosch and Lomb using 100 power, as any higher magnification would not capture enough depth in focus.
I have yet to see a quality photo using those cheap usb scopes. The photo below was taken using using a 10 power loupe in front of my compact camera.
I need a better 'scope mount as I think the cantilever could be bent, but not shown here.
I don't see a pointed tipin your pic.
Yup, you have no stylus! That is just the bushing. Hopefully you didn't play too many records with the stylus in that condition. This also means that ONE of the records you played before you noticed the distortion has a stylus possibly embedded in it.
I strongly recommend that you visually check any albums you played and preferably clean them first - ideally ultrasonically.
Regards Anthony
"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats
Well I let my 15-year old son play the last record (his first one) and he said the sound did not change while playing it (I cleaned, or showed him how to, the record each side). As soon as we put his new 2nd record on, it was clearly wrong immediately, so I aborted. I'm guessing the tip came off w/ the Last brush if that's what happened. Both of his albums are picture discs.
I won't go too deep into this financially or time-wise as I rarely play vinyl anymore; my main source is a DENAFRIPS DAC.
I have a Mapleshade vinyl steam cleaner which works great, but it's been a few years since I went through that hassle.
Here is what the $20 USB microscope does. I will take a picture of the new stylus next week so that I/we know what's normal.
This one is obviously not normal - there is no tip.
If you can't see the diamond, it has most probably become detached from the end of the cantilever, and the material you are seeing is the cement that failed to do its job.
nt
What I can see is consistent w/ this. I will verify w/ a microscope.
Look at the stylus as the arm/cartridge lower onto the record. When the stylus touches the record it should deflect up a bit because of the tracking force on it. If it deflects all the way so that your cartridge body rests on the record, the suspension is probably messed up. If it appears to rest normally in the groove, that doesn't prove the suspension is OK, it just passed this test. This happened recently to a cartridge of mine. It would play with the cartridge body touching the record, but the slightest warp could send it somewhere else.
Thanks
Did you check the leveling? After not being used for months then things could be off. I verify leveling of all my TT that are in use (4) about once a month.
I checked the level and it's close. I don't think that could cause this. Thanks
Before you consider buying a new tip, use a loupe and examine the stylus for crud on the tip. If so, then a good clean with a blob of BluTac will solve that.
If clean, then consider if the arm has a bias on it - with zero VTF, check that it floats in any position you shift it to.
If this test passes, then consider the stylus as possibly worn.
How many hours do you reckon you have on the stylus? I am not sure if the F3 stylus is bonded or nude, but bonded elliptical tips are normally good for about 600 hours max. Audible distortion creeps in from 300 hours. In fact AT rate their bonded elliptical tips for 300 hours. So about 2 years at 1 hour a day would be the limit.
A friend complained about a similar thing and when I examined the stylus (which was originally a bonded tip) I just saw the bushing! The tip had come off which is why it sounded terrible and skated over the record.
Regards Anthony
"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats
Edits: 10/13/24
Yikes! I'm guessing that the record was toast after you discovered the problem.
One might think this would only happen with lower-end bonded (or "tipped" as Ortofon calls them) styli, but I accidentally bumped a Microline stylus during alignment and the tip was knocked off my ATN150MLX which was really annoying.
I much prefer styli that are in slots for reliability.
Regards Anthony
"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats
I can't see it clearly, so ordered a microscope, but what I can see looks like a stub above and below the cantilever, but no more diamond tip.
I now see that a microscope is essential to know what's going on.
was noticing distortion, so I placed his stylus under the microscope I had given him a couple years ago. The microscope picture was ugly, but cleaning with Mr. Clean and some alcohol on a brush cleaned it up completely.
I can't see that a whole diamond stylus is on the cantilever, but something is there. I have ordered a microscope and a new stylus for the ZF3 (I put the wrong model above).
I can't find my loupe.
Thanks
Make sure the cue lever platform drops down with enough clearance. Sometimes these platforms are not level from one side to another and will start out OK and then skip when part of the platform touches the bottom of the arm tube.
Or it could be a dirty diamond. Check and make sure it's clean. Is the diamond still there? When they fall off the cartridge makes a distorted sound and the arm wants to skate across the record.
I can barely see, but I think the diamond is still there, but could be dirty. I'm surprised if the Stylast brush does not clean it. I will look into some blue tack or something.
The cue lever does go low enough, but I will check again across the record.
Thanks
Check the weight. You might be tracking too lite
Pablo14
Thanks. But it floats and 0 g and I even tried 2 g and it was a little better, but it was set to 1.75 g before and that should be enough.
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