Turntable stylus help

[Jerome Hawkes]

Ok guys, I am one of the younger generation without much turntable experience. I have aquired a large collection of steel related & classic country LPs but I think a few have fried my stylus from possibly being in poor shape - but then I hear the stylus is far harder than the vinyl records.
Anyway I have 3 good cartridges - grado, shure and denon - I'm getting some distortion now even on clean records. I switched to the denon i had tucked away as a spare and it plays fine so its not in the equipment.
Can you replace / send off for a new needle, using the existing cartridge? Or just as well buy a new one - but man, these ain't cheap and impossible to find.

[Michael Maddex]

Radio Shack stores stock dozens of phonograph needles and replacement cartridges. Click here to check it out. HTH.

[Tim Marcus]

you may not have the tone arm balanced properly - too much weight on the needle will make records sound grainy and ruin it faster.

lots of into on how to do it online:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id7xXUs-cho

[Curtis Alford]

Try Needle Doctor they have a good stock.

[Dave Grafe]

Keep in mind that a bad needle can destroy "clean" records in a single pass, the distortion you are hearing may not be the needle at all....

Use the proper needle for the disc being played, as different needle profiles were used during different recording eras.

[Howard Steinberg]

A company called "Jico" has styli for many different cartridges. In some cases it's cheaper to buy a new cartridge and stylus. The Shure M97xe is a decent all around cartridge and can be found for about $50. There are also some good deals to be found on Audio Technica cartridges. Proper mounting and alignment is critical. Easy to do on tables with a removable head shell and the proper mounting tool. It can also be your worst nightmare on tables that don't have a removable head shell Good luck!

[Jerry Overstreet]

http://www.parts-express.com/cat/turnta ... styli/2074
These folks carry a wide selection of styli and also complete cartridges.

[Ray Thomas]

Jerome, your buddy from Goldsboro, I have did a rather large amount of these. The one who mentioned the weight is right, Balance the arm and then crank in just enough weight so the needle wont skip, I never used real expensive cartridges and needles, I know all will not agree but I don't think there's that much difference in the big dollar ones and the regular ones, also clean the records as best you can, I use windex, get ready for a jam in Kannapolis 2 March.