DD runoff area marking

[Chuck]

Latest update is that out of 3 original DD styli recently found, one is perfect,
one has slight wear, and one has serious wear and it cuts.

The perfect stylus and the slightly worn one both do not mark
the runoff. (Not even a little bit)

So, here is my tentative conclusion:

Even a worn Edison original DD stylus is much better than a brand new el-cheapo
"brand X" DD stylus is!

Trouble is those "el-cheapos" cost 100 bucks!!

(what is wrong with this picture?)

Chuck

[larryh]

So far my Bruce Stylus is showing absolutely no sign of traveling the run off just as a good edison will. Wether that will last is not known, but so far so good.

Larry

[Chuck]

Larry,

That is good news! Here are the facts, as I see them:

Even a worn Edison original DD stylus can play fine and leave absolutely no
marks of any kind in a shiny runoff area. Of course, once this wear reaches a
certain limit, then it will start cutting.

However, it seems to me that there is some range of acceptable wear.

Now then:... Compare those facts with the demonstrated fact that an "El-Cheapo" "Brand-X"
DD stylus (made of who-knows-what material)....leaves a faint trace of where it's
been, in the runoff. Also, keep in mind that this stylus has only played maybe
50 DD sides tops, and is for all intents and purposes brand new.

So, we have a half worn-out 100-year old original that leaves absolutely no
marks, and we have a brand new shoddy imitation that leaves marks.

Again, I ask, "What's wrong with this picture?"

Chuck

[larryh]

I suspect its in the material selected for the stylus. There isn't much else it can be. I have seen magnifications of some replacement stylus which plainly show fractures in the playing surface. The Bruce product does not look like that when magnified. They appeared smooth while the other had almost jagged areas missing. That may explain the tendency to mark the records either right away or over time.

Larry

[celticguitar666]

I find it strange that after almost a century there should be problem making a good diamond stylus for these machines technology has advanced. The small stylus on modern machines takes considerable abuse especially when playing thrift store records with all there pops and crackles I am sure the small diamond is being whacked hard quite a bit but I only had one stylus fail after almost 50 years of spinning records. I know we are talking different pressures here but there is still tons of weight being put on that needle at 2-4 grams or even a gram. I see no reason at this point that good reproductions can't be made even with a cost factor figured in. I use my A150 alot but I am going to look into a way to play them on my TT with a conventional set up even jsut for recording purposes I know it can be done and saw it somewhere Maybe we should check with the Japanese they seem to be able to make hand made carts maybe they can do it? It should not be that hard to source out good diamonds and hand glue them to some one who knows how.
My 2 cents
Dwight