Ortofon - Carbon Fiber Stylus Brush

The dry brush Ortofon itself points to in its own cartridge-care guidance — and the direction you use it in is the whole point.

Ortofon’s instruction for this brush is worth reading carefully, because it contradicts what a lot of people do instinctively. Brush a few times along the cantilever in the direction of the stylus tip, working from the rear of the cartridge forward toward the tip. Never from the tip backward, and never side to side.

The reason is mechanical. A cantilever is a thin rod held in a rubber suspension, and a diamond is held on it with cement. Brushing backward or sideways loads both in directions they were never designed to take. Brushing forward, along the axis the stylus already travels in the groove, does not.

Ortofon recommends doing this whenever you play a new record or turn a side over — which sounds fussy until you consider that a stylus tip is a few tens of microns across and everything that accumulates on it sits between the diamond and the groove. This is a dry tool, and deliberately so: Ortofon advises against solvents of any kind on a stylus, and says its warranty will not cover a cartridge that has malfunctioned as a result.

Features

• The stylus brush Ortofon specifies in its own cartridge-care guidance
• Use from the rear of the cartridge forward toward the stylus tip — never backward, never side to side
• Ortofon recommends brushing with every new record or side change
• A dry tool. Ortofon advises against solvents of any kind on a stylus

Specifications

• Type: Fibre stylus brush
• Ortofon’s Instruction: Use the brush a few times along the cantilever in the direction of the stylus tip, whenever you play a new record or change sides. Use it in the forward direction from the rear of the cartridge toward the stylus tip, and never from the stylus tip to the rear of the cartridge, and never from side to side
• Frequency of Use: Every new record or side change
• Cleaning Fluids: Ortofon does not recommend solvents of any kind for cleaning either the record surface or the stylus. Its stated reason is specific: solvents may damage the stylus cement, and interior parts of the cartridge can be seriously affected by solvent intrusion. Ortofon adds that its warranty service will not be valid where such treatment has caused a cartridge to malfunction. For records specifically, Ortofon does permit lukewarm demineralised water with a dash of sulphonic soap, used in minimal amounts — but that is for the record only, never the stylus
• Origin: Ortofon A/S, Nakskov, Denmark
• Not Published: Handle material; dimensions; weight; bristle count or density; box contents. Ortofon’s specification table for this product is empty. Note also that Ortofon describes this as a fibre brush rather than specifically a carbon fibre one — it uses the term carbon fibre for its record brush but not for this