Couple light passes with the dry brush that came with the cartridge before each side of a record. Hudson UV a couple times a month. I usually wash a handful of records before playing them so I know they're as clean as I can get them.
I just had a friend pass by who has a very powerful magnifying glass; he checked my stylus thanks to this thread and said it was "spotless" "perfect". I cant even remember when i last cleaned it! Well over a year ago i am sure! Strange but true. I play about two albums a day.
Gently with Linn "green paper" after every LP side, Audio Technica AT-637 before every listening session, used dry. I never let fluid anywhere near the stylus and from inspecting dozens of cartridges under high powered microscopes, soft brushes are thoroughly useless at removing anything but lose fluff. If anyone doesn't know what the Linn green paper is, here is a Linn video, which also goes into using liquid cleaners. It starts with a section about stylus care:
I clean it pretty regularly. Almost every day. It takes 20 seconds and insures better tracking and a longer life for my stylus. Why not do it often.
I dry brush when I first turn things on to start listening, and then as I feel it is necessary between sides (not necessarily every side). The stylus I have been using for a little over 160 hours just got its first wet clean last week, and that was because the dry brush wasn’t getting something off.
If anyone wants to come close to those seemingly outrageous stylus life claims, they should brush after every play. I also do a few dabs of ME every month or so. I wasn't always this dedicated but I started to remove the stylus a lot when my 2M Black was new, and put it under a microscope. Even a clean record dirts up the stylus after a side of play.
I'm not too anal about this. Every side or two, I'll gently brush with a standard stylus brush. Every few records or so, I'll lower the stylus into my DS-50 pad. After that, about once a week I'll use the Lyra stylus cleaner. The Lyra cleaner is apparently enzymatic and not alcohol based, which should be OK on the stylus glue. While I don't have a microscope to view the state of my stylus, the silence, good tracking ability and depth of detail retrieval suggest what I'm doing works. : )
I clean the stylus when I think it needs cleaning. I always brush the stylus before each and every side play. Just prudent. Just makes sense.
Zerodust before I start listening then dry brush every other album or two. Records are always cleaned before playing. Some favorite records require more frequent dry brushing before playing each side.
1) After playing a side I have just cleaned on the VPI 16.5. That first play sometimes dredges up debris that didn't get vacuumed. 2) After I left the arm playing the lead-out groove too long, which happens often enough I don't have to keep a schedule.