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RE: My cartridge suddenly fails to track

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In Reply to: RE: My cartridge suddenly fails to track posted by sbrians on October 13, 2024 at 16:30:13

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

Follow Ups:

Had the same problem, and this was the cause . . . - alaskahiatt 19:44:41 10/15/24 (3)
- RE: Had the same problem, and this was the cause . . . - flood2 20:13:57 10/15/24 (0)
  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
- Yes - sbrians 20:10:03 10/15/24 (1)
  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.
  - A microscope is essential for me. The owner of my local record store - alaskahiatt 20:45:42 10/15/24 (0)
    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.
Ordered a red 3 stylus - sbrians 09:19:48 10/15/24 (0)
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

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