Typical stylus lifespan in hours?

[daiwok]

Question .......

Lifespan is determine by a stylus being worn...... this is due to profile and tracking force ? with tracking force being equal what can we expect ? The reason for the question is because I have a Super Fine Line Contact Stylus on my Nagoaka MP500 and the manual says 150 hours life span ! nuts !! and tracking below 1.5g. The Jan Allaerts Finnish which Jean has says 10,000 hours ! that's a Gyger S profile I think. The chunky conical which I have on my Decca Mono which was inspected by Expert Stylus said it still has 600 hours left and that tracks around 3g.

Confused ? I am !

[richard]

David,

I think that these stylus manufacturers are talking about apples, oranges, orangutan burgers, and nutritient-rich pebbles. I affirm that you are not crazy.

A stylus that can safely play for only 150 hours is not worthy of sale, is it? Now, that's crazy. I submit that Nagaoka has printed a typo. This can be a Japanese-English problem because I suspect that there may be nobody in that company with enough English ability to spot an error in English. Nagoka are not crazy people; they have been making phono pickups for a long time. I knew about them during the 1980s, at least as an OEM manufacturer.

When manufacturers specify stylus life in hours, I wonder what they're smoking. There are too many variables to be able to do this with certainty. When I discussed the difference between the original Stereohedron and the Stereohedron II with a Stanton engineer, he expressed the difference in stylus wear as a percentage. This may be the only honest and responsible way to answer a customer's question, although it may be possible for a manufacturer to give a range of hours, assuming that the records are scrupulously clean, depending upon types of vinyl and tracking force. And let's not forget antiskating.

I actually remember when one cartridge maker (I'm going to protect his memory and not reveal his identity) said that his cartridge tracked so lightly that his sapphire needle would last forever. Well, I think that's what he said. OK: it was probably a diamond. But you get the idea.

I know a little about how Expert Stylus examines diamond tips, and I trust them. And I would not hold them to a figure that they expressed without asking what sorts of records they envisioned.

I suspect that you'd need someone who can ask Nagaoka in Japanese to get a usable number.

[flavio81]

When manufacturers specify stylus life in hours, I wonder what they're smoking. There are too many variables to be able to do this with certainty.

  My thoughts exactly. What are they smoking? Can't they invite me some? (Today is 4/20 btw).

Variables:

- Diamond polishing quality
- Diamond quality (is it grain-oriented?)
- Stylus tip shape (and thus, contact surface; and thus, pressure on the groove)
- Vertical tracking force
- Correct antiskating (so both sides of the stylus wear at the same rate)
- Record compound quality (and thus, abrasion)
- Smoothness of surface (does it has cracks?)
- Cleaniness of surface (dust?)

[syncopeter]

Flavio,

I fully agree with you. A really well polished oriented diamond with a large contact area and a low VTF that is set up properly should last more or less indefinitely on good quality vinyl imo. Bar excessively scratched or very old (early 50s) records maybe.
Shellac is a wholly different ballgame though. Many manufacturers put abrasives in it to help the steel needles get their correct profile more quickly. So you can expert wear on a diamond when playing these records. However a friend of mine has briend playing 78s with an Expert stylus for 5+ years every night and it is still in as new condition. But then he needs only a VTF of 2Gms on TD124/SME3009S1/M44 combination. Cheaper diamonds do wear though . They may last only 500 - 1000 hours or even shorter with chipped, cracked or heavily worn records.

[flavio81]

Many manufacturers put abrasives in it to help the steel needles get their correct profile more quickly. So you can expert wear on a diamond when playing these records.

Sorry to go off topic. Yes, shellac records are supposed to be abrasive by design; but this is not to help the needle "get their correct profile more quickly"; this is simply to make sure the record is the one that cuts the needle and not the opposite way!! The intended profile is spherical and the needle came spherical from the factory. Such (steel) needles were supposed to last only 1 record (two sides).