Tag: worn

That’s Not a Scratch on Your Vinyl – It’s Dirt!

Dirt and static electricity may cause good records to sound “scratchy”. A proper cleaning will remove dirt and static electricity from the vinyl. You may be very surprised to hear how good your records sound once cleaned.  What you thought was noise caused by scratches may disappear.

An old or worn stylus will cause your records to sound bad or sound scratchy. This is because a worn stylus is getting down to the bottom of the record groove where there is no music. Understand that a stylus begins life shaped like an ellipse (rounded) and then wears down to a point and falls further down into the groove until it hits bottom.  This is bad for your records. The music resides on the sides of the record groove and is where a new stylus (needle) sits while playing.

Illustration of Wear and Tear from the Stylus