The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Playing an electric Diamond Disc with my dance reproducer recently, I was horrified to see an orange dust gather on the surface. Clearly the stylus was cutting the grooves. (I reverted to the ordinary reproducer somewhat quickly, which caused no problem).
I then tried out the dance reproducer on an old acoustic Diamond Disc, and there was none of the dreaded dust. So I don't think that it was the stylus which had become damaged.
The electric DD would naturally have grooves of higher amplitude - would this have caused the groove-wear?

Yes,I believe so.edisonplayer.

Is it possible that the disc was just dirty and the stylus was lifting up the dirt? I've seen that happen too.

Unfortunately, I don't think the dust was mere surface dirt; the disc was pretty clean beforehand.