Stylus wear measurement

[radiosmuck]

Is styli 'wear' that much of a problem? From what I can remember they got ruined by rough handling.

 

[billshurv]

That's what we are here to find out. There are numbers in literature from a few 100 hours to 3000 hours. Shure put out a lot of stuff on this in the 50s.
Stylus Wear and Record Wear | Knowledge Base | Shure Americas

Note to LD: they mention noise from hitting the bottom of the groove. Another think forgotten over time.

The average flat on a worn diamond spherical tip measured .00145". Even this amount of wear results in distortion, increased noise and excessive record wear. To obtain a flat of .00075" required 140 hours of use. To obtain a flat of .001" required 300 hours of use. To obtain a flat of .00125" required 700 hours of use. To obtain a flat of .0015" required 1,500 hours of average use; this degree of wear resulted in reduced tonal response, high noise level, greatly increased distortion and a considerable amount of record wear.

 

[billshurv]

Another data point What Does Stylus Wear Look Like? | Analog Planet

The Titan has a 3x70 line contact so similar to the microridge and certainly at the 'extreme' end of profiles. But from a front view it's hard to tell what the contact face looks like and how much it's actually sunk down the groove. Although his 1000 hours was a guestimate Lyra claim up to 2500 so something doesn't quite stack up. I think some photoshop on the pictures is called for.