Your [almost] worst nightmare

[rontokyo]

So the phone rang and I muted the stereo while a record was playing. And then we went out for dinner, etc. And you know the rest of this story. It wasn't until the next night, almost 24 hours later, that I noticed that the record was still playing [albeit on the lead out]. Any consensus on how much wear/damage a stylus suffers with that kind of treatment? Do I search for a new Sumiko Blue Point?

[Ed Bishop]

Yes, if only for your own piece of mind. You don't mention how long you've had your current stylus; possible it's got some miles left on it. What lousy luck! Better safe than sorry...I always have one backup stylus for each cartridge anyway....hate to travel so many miles for a replacement, so I pick up an extra one whenever I think I've gotten as much out of the old one as is reasonable.

ED:cool:

[Richard Feirstein]

If it was a quality cartridge like a Shure V-15 tracking at less than a gram than little wear can be expected; if it was a poor quality cartridge tracking at 3 grams than both the end grove and stylus got hot and wear could be significant. Heat is the issue.

Richard.