How Hard to Swap Grado Styli?

I see some folks buy multiple cartridges/headshells instead.

 

Not hard with their little tool IIRC, tho it does pull downward out of the cartridge, so depending on how high you’re arm raises, it could be tricky if the headshell is non-removable.

 

It's not hard, but it's a nuiscance. The stylus block slides out of the cartridge body downward, If I recall correctly at an angle. Grado supplies a little plastic tool for the purpose. Not nearly as straightforward as with Stanton/Pickering or Shure cartridges.

 

I always kind of count on the tip coming out getting bent or trashed.
Going in is easy.

 

It’s a tighter fit than you’d think and takes a bit of force to get it out. The one time I tried removing a stylus without the little Grado tool I ended up bending the cantilever beyond repair.

 

Seems as if it’s worth a try, headshells be darned.

 

As luck would have it, last night I was clearing out a drawer full of some old audio clutter (stuff like decades-old cassette label stickers, which probably wouldn't even stick any more), and I stumbled across the paper instruction insert that came with one of my Grado cartridges from back in the 1980s/early 1990s. Here's what it shows for changing the stylus assembly; same procedure would obtain today:



The tool is, in effect, a plastic horseshoe with little hooks on each arm to engage the stylus assembly. (Note: this scan cuts off half or more of the sheet; the next subject, as you can see, was "vertical angle adjustments.")

 

VERY clear. Thanks!