When to Change Your Stylus

Diamonds Aren’t Forever

Imagine this horrific scenario. You’ve settled down to listen to your favorite David Bowie album. For me, that would be Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. As you’re listening, you notice something. It doesn’t sound as clear as it used to. The high-end isn’t as high. You think at first it must be your ears. It’s been a long day, and you’re tired. Hopefully, it’s not your speakers. You get up to check. The moment you stand up, it happens—the needle skips. Now you’re in full motion. You run to your turntable and lift the tonearm from your record. What just happened?

Then it hits you.

When was the last time you changed the stylus?

I know. I’ve been there too. There was even a time when I was a teenager when I thought my turntable’s stylus had to be invincible. I mean, it’s made of diamond, right? Aren’t diamonds supposed to last forever? There’s even a James Bond movie that says so. It’s right in the title.

No. They don’t last forever. It’s a sad state of affairs when even the hardest natural substance on earth turns out to have a shelf life. After spending all of its existence having been dragged through the dusty, debris-filled vinyl valleys, it’s inevitable. It’s entropy in action. Everything breaks down over time.

So What is The “Shelf-Life”?

As horrible as the above scenario is, there’s a lesson there. Don’t wait until you hear the first signs of wear or for your stylus to give up the ghost in the middle of Born to Run. We already know it’s not impervious. That’s why we clean it. It picks up dust, lint, and oils. It also wears down over time. Exactly how much time is the question? Consider this: a diamond will last a billion years if left alone. I’m not kidding. As far as we’re concerned, it will last forever until it gradually turns into graphite. Not so when it’s in use.

The smart thing to do is to change it before it shows signs of age. My current stylus is an Ortofon Red. The Ortofon website states – “with proper care we find that up to 1000 hours is possible without degradation of performance.”

1000 hours. That’s good to know. Do I really want to wait for 1000 hours? No. Even though I take excellent care of my stylus and the records it comes into contact with, they say, “1000 is possible”. Possible doesn’t mean guaranteed. And do I dare chance placing a worn needle on the incredibly rare copy of Samantha Fish’s Wild Heart that took me over a year to find? Or the copy Blizzard of Ozz that still sounds brand new after 40 years?

A general search online will give replacement time suggestions that range from 150 hours to 1500 hours. The average playing time of a record is forty minutes (except for Nick Drake’s Pink Moon, which is twenty-eight minutes!). At forty minutes, given the 1000 hours suggestion, it would mean replacing your stylus after 1500 records. I play two to three records a day on average. If I go with three to be safe, that would mean changing it every 500 days. I’m not taking any chances, so I change mine every year. I bought my Ortofon in October, so it’s easy to remember. Whenever Halloween rolls around, it’s time to change.

Just the Stylus?

It depends. If you have a Moving Magnet cartridge, you can probably buy a replacement stylus without worrying about purchasing an entire cartridge. You may want to upgrade to a better model, in which case you’ll want to check to see if your turntable allows for cartridge upgrades. If two little screws on the top of your cartridge mount it to the tonearm, chances are you can but check with the manufacturer. On the other hand, you will have to change the entire cartridge if you have the Moving Coil type.

One last thing. If you buy a used turntable – always change the stylus before playing any records. You never know where that needle’s been!