[Bretherman]

I recently purchased a turntable setup that had a Shure Type IV cart with a Jico VN-45HE SAS/S stylus.

I put the stylus under the microscope to check the condition, and found it to be very dirty.

The stylus brush did not budge the buildup, so I (in a nerve-wracking process) used a needle to slowly chip at it.

After about 10 minutes, I was able to get just about all of it off.

I used a stylus brush throughout the process to help brush away what I loosened.

I really wasn't expecting much in terms of sound quality improvement. It already sounded great to me, and I just wanted peace of mind in having a clean needle.

But cleaning it helped bring out a lot more low-end. This was a very welcome result!

Please see below for pictures:

Dirty Jico Stylus:



Clean Jico Stylus:



Bonus pictures comparing Jico to Original Shure stylus:



Jico top view:



Original Shure top view:

[S Clark]

That's a bizarre looking clump of dirt/lint/crap on the stylus.   I've had lots of dust bunnies screw up the sound on a TT, but never something I had to pry off the stylus.  Any idea what that was?

[SET Man]

Hey!

   That's crazy and nasty looking dirty stylus there! Look almost like bad thick earwax or mucus there. I think the previous owner handle vinyl with dirty oily hands and that gets accumulated overtime with dust and lints until it gunked up like that.

   Anyway, the difference between the Jico's and the original Shure's stylus is interesting.

[Bretherman]

That's a bizarre looking clump of dirt/lint/crap on the stylus.   I've had lots of dust bunnies screw up the sound on a TT, but never something I had to pry off the stylus.  Any idea what that was?

My best guess is, this may be tobacco etc. smoke residue...?

[bkatbamna]

There was a lot of distortion on my N97HE stylus.  I cleaned it multiple times and was ready to toss it and as a last resort, I put it in my ultrasonic cleaner for a couple of minutes.  It worked great.  No more distortion.

[orthobiz]

Thanks. I'm gonna have nightmares for about a week.

Paul