What's considered bad for your stylus?

Here's a couple pictures of an lp i purchased yesterday. It's a green label deep purple made in Japan,.

What are these marks in the grooves, they seem to travel with the groove.

My question is, I've heard some of you talk about vinyl being so bad that you wouldn't run your stylus through it, worried it may damage it.

What kind of issues or conditions of lp's would possibly damage a stylus? And what could have caused this damage?


I'm talking about the thin grey line in the above pic. And the multiple lines in the below pic.



I guess there's only one way for me to find these things out, and that's to play it and see what happens. After a spin clean first.

 

I've bought thousands of LPs in my nearly 50 years of playing vinyl, but I've never seen scratches like that running perpendicular to grooves.

EDIT: That should be "parallel". Thanks DLD!

 

Actually the scratches run "parallel" to the grooves, not perpendicular but, agreed, that's a strange scratch "pattern"

 

Oops....of course you're right.....thinking both and typed the wrong one. LOL

 

Here's a longshot......could this have been an LP from a former DJ?

 

In my experience, most DJ records that are damaged have rub marks rather than scratches like this.

 

I had a copy of Harvest that had scratches like that, it didn't play well at all. I don't know about damaging your stylus but I don't think you are going to like playing it either way.

 

I think a really bad warp would be worse for a stylus then just a scratch.

 

after further consideration...If it doesn't sound good, it cant be good for your stylus. Imperfections are essentially abrasives to the diamond, the longer they come in contact with them the faster the stylus will get worn out. I don't think there are many conditions that will immediately damage your stylus but if it looks that bad there may not be much point in playing it.

If you are still running a 2m red, it is more forgiving than other carts but I don't think it is going to play those scratches very well.

 

Do you think the damage would come to the suspension or position of the cantilever?

 

Maybe something got lodged between the stylus and groove and ripped a new groove.

 

A little from column A, a little from column B?

I've read lots of anecdotes of people who have a cheap table just for trial runs of questionable LPs, but I guess I never determined what the specific problem they were looking to avoid was. And there might not be one, it could be a combination of what you said above about increased wear and just a general sense of impropriety to drop a Lyra on a $1 copy of The Gambler. I sort of doubt there was ever a moment where they heard a loud pop followed by the faint tinkle of their stylus ricocheting off their window.

 

Made In Japan is a pretty common record in my experience. Why mess with this ugly beasty at all? Just find a better copy. Even 80's watermark copies sound great.

 

I bet The Gambler sounds great with a Lyra. That must be the missing piece of the puzzle for me.

 

If the grey lines are actually in the groove and follow it perfectly, it's either damaged vinyl from stylus mistracking during that part of the song or a DJ scratching that area. If the damage occurs during a particularly sibilant portion of the song, it's mistracking damage.

 

A good thread topic would be "oddest choice for MoFi remasters". The Gambler and Toto IV are high on my list.

 

Q: What's considered bad for your stylus? A: Everything including playing records. To keep your stylus like new leave it in the box it was packaged in.

 

As cartridge manufacturers, such as Van Den Hul, will tell you, the useful life of a stylus will be greatly reduced by playing dirty records; dust and other crap is highly abrasive. But, I have not read anything by manufacturers about the effect of the condition of the groove on life span of a cartridge. I would suspect that if the groove is severely damaged such that it is impossible to track the groove correctly, that creates some added strain that might affect life of the stylus or the cantilever and suspension parts. Also, if the groove itself is damaged by being played in a dirty condition, even if the record is subsequently cleaned, the groove surface may no longer be as smooth as it was before and that might also increase the abrasive quality of that surface.

But, as to looking at a picture to tell if a record is too damaged to be played without fear of damaging a cartridge, I don't really see how that is possible. I have bought used records with a lot of scratches and scuff marks that play nearly flawlessly; the damage is on the surface, and my cartridge plays further down in the groove (characteristic of narrow profile micro-ridge type styli).

 

Clearly, you guys have been exceedingly lucky and live charmed lives . Or you don't buy used records on line ...
I've got a few like this, bought as "NEAR MINT". Sometimes, the grooves are fused and are likely to skip.

I'd test play this with a cheap cartridge. If it skips or has nasty clicks, discard it. Otherwise I think it is reasonable to play.

Either way, give it a thorough bath first...

 

its pretty unlikely that the vinyl itself will cause any damage to a stylus aside from normal play wear. I mean maybe, if it is deeply gouged or something, but not normal record wear or scratches. nothing in your pictures would hurt a stylus. Its a good idea to clean, some dirt might be a bit abrasive to a stylus, but even this is probably pretty minimal.

 

Using it.

 

I don't have a cheap table, but I don't first-play new acquisitions on my 'best' table either. The last thing I want is a lock groove derailment that sends my $1000 cartridge dragging over the label or any groove blockage or skip yanking on the stylus unnecessarily. It may not 'damage' the stylus, but playing a record on the cheaper cartridge first hurts nothing.

 

I suppose there is some merit to being ultra cautious. While I don't play truly trashed records, I don't have another table to use for test playing and I don't worry about problems too much. I thoroughly clean all used records and I inspect them for obvious pits or big pieces of gunk (I run my fingers over the surface to feel for things I might have missed with my eyes). I have never damaged a cartridge from playing a bad record and most of my cartridges are fairly delicate (current cartridges are a Lyra Titan and Transfiguration Orpheus L). I might be a bit more concerned if I had an ultra-delicate cartridge, such as certain Audionote and Allaerte cartridges I have seen (I know someone who pulled off the cantilever of an Allaerte cartridge just by trying to clean it using one of those sticky pad cleaners).

 

.......funny, but true!!!

 

Man! That's rough looking. Can't help but think someone used something sharp on the grooves to see if they could get sound out of it. Probable damaged by a kid just messin' around???