78 Diamond Stylus Recommendation

[Marco Gilardetti]

And finally my retipped styli are back from United kingdom! I made a case to keep the whole set while waiting. Now I have to find some time to test them...

[melvind]

I love the case! I need something like that too.

[Wolfe]

That's about a perfect range of (78) styli, while still keeping it compact. A 4.0 is much more useful than it's often made out to be.

[Viva-voce]

A 4.0 is much more useful than it's often made out to be.[/quote]


Yes I have found that to be very true!

Steven

[Marco Gilardetti]

Thank you very much for your comments!

While I had in mind to buy the 40mil tip since the early stage (but it's good to see confirmed that it will indeed be useful) the real intruder in the set is the 35mil tip. Bart was so persuasive when he wrote that it was possibly the most useful one of his set, that eventually I made my mind up to add it to mine, although I disregarded it at first. These things aren't cheap and for a while I wondered if it made sense to buy this middle-way between 30 and 40, but as the hint came from a person who seemed to have pondered his suggestion, in the end I decided to add it to my order.

I really have to praise the folks at Expert Stylus co. The dispatched the order much quickier than they prudentially communicated at first, and they have been very kind and helpful on the phone. British style in its best acceptation.

[OrthoSean]

That's about a perfect range of (78) styli, while still keeping it compact. A 4.0 is much more useful than it's often made out to be.

I've been suggesting a 4.0 mil TE to collectors for years, often received with doubt due to expense. They're particularly great for early electric Victors up to about 1930-31, many acoustics, especially Grand Prize Victors and Zonophones from the same era, most HMV discs and other UK labels that are often victims of the dreaded "crackle". There are obvious exceptions, but typically I use my 4.0 mil more so than my 2.0, 2.5, 2.8, 3.0, 3.2 and 3.5 sizes. It's great to have a wide variety to choose from and an investment I'll never be sorry for.

Sean

[Wolfe]

These things aren't cheap and for a while I wondered if it made sense to buy this middle-way between 30 and 40,

3.5 is good, too. Your cost will be spread across the lifetimes of four styli now, instead of one or two or three, because you still only play one record at a time, so it all evens out. You ought to get a lot of use out of that set.


My setup isn't so neat, I have 2.5, 2.7, 3.0, 3.5, 4.0 mil tips that variously fit Stanton 500, Nagaoka MP series, Shure 97xe and a cheapo Sanyo cartridge all mounted on separate headshells. I also have a 1.2 mil that I bought to play early mono LP's, but have actually found it useful to use on the odd later period 78, but not often. I've been tempted to try the custom styli for the Shure M44 that are currently being sold by Naucks - they were discussed back in this thread - but I don't truly believe I need them enough at the present time to warrant additional cost and clutter.

[Damfino59]

The M44 stylus Nauck is selling are made by Expert Stylus.

I’ve enjoyed mine for some time now. All for the M44

3.7 for Edison

3.5 for 1920 - 1935

4.0 for those that could use it. Even on Pathé records.

Glenn

[OrthoSean]

The M44 stylus Nauck is selling are made by Expert Stylus.

I’ve enjoyed mine for some time now. All for the M44

3.7 for Edison

3.5 for 1920 - 1935

4.0 for those that could use it. Even on Pathé records.

Glenn

I bought my latest 4.0 from Nauck for the M44 and I'm pleased with it after my Stanton fitted one finally wore out after several years.

If you haven't tried, an LP stylus often works better on Diamond Discs than a larger one. I picked up a generic elliptical LP stylus for the M44 off a seller on eBay from Florida who makes them for something like $12. I use this one exclusively for DDs and keep the Shure branded LP stylus for regular LPs. It was suggested to me years ago by a well-known transfer engineer that an LP stylus playing DDs could wear faster and it wasn't advisable to interchange the application with LPs using the same stylus. I'm not certain this is really true, but for $12, I figure it's a safe move.

Try it, you may like it!

Sean

[Damfino59]

Yes I’ve done the stereo tip on diamond discs and it does work real well. That was when you could still get the elliptical M44e straight from Shure. Now I sometimes use an old Audio-Technica AT95. But for clean copies my stand by is the good old 2.7 Pickering. I have a modified Technics 1200 and a Plano box with additional head shells. It’s all fun!

Glenn