Everything To Know About The Needle or Stylus on a Record Player

A list of facts about the tiny part on your turntable that plays an important role in vinyl record playback.

Turntable terminology can be confusing for a beginner. It took many years for me to properly understand just what all of these moving parts are doing in order to produce sound. I often found myself calling certain parts of the turntable by the wrong name, not really understanding their purpose.

Since falling in love with vintage gear several years ago, I’ve begun to educate myself more on how everything works. I’m often asked questions by friends who are setting up new stereo systems or have run into trouble operating the ones they own.

I’ve been asked a lot lately about the role of the stylus, the “needle” and cartridges in general. There are differences in each that are worth exploring further.

For the purposes below, I am going to focus simply on the stylus itself, not the entire cartridge. I think it’s important to separate the two and explain the purpose of each. An entire article could be written on cartridges alone (something I will probably write in the near future), so I felt it necessary to stick with just facts about the stylus.

I learned even more about the stylus while writing this article and I hope you do the same.

(Also see our articles on 5 Reasons Your Turntable or Record Player Sounds Bad, Weird or Distorted and How To Repair a Record Player or Turntable That Sounds Slow for more troubleshooting.)

What is a Stylus?

Robert Harley, in his book, The Complete Guide To High-End Audio, defines a stylus as a “tiny wedge protruding from a phono cartridge’s cantilever that rests in the record groove and moves back and forth in response to modulations in the groove.”

I assume this is where we got the phrase, “in the groove” as in, “I was out on vacation on last week, but now I’m getting back in the groove and catching up.”

In the YouTube video below, you can see the stylus moving through the grooves as mentioned above. It’s fascinating to watch the stylus move back and forth, back and forth, as the record rotates. It’s amazing that this is the movement is sending the appropriate signal through the playback chain for us to hear music.

Is the Stylus the same thing as a Needle?

Yes. People call the stylus a “needle”, often including the cantilever (the piece of metal the stylus is attached to), but the stylus is actually just the little tip sticking down from the cantilever.

I tried to take a photo of my stylus below but as you can see, the tip is so small, you need a microscope to view it properly. But you can see the cantilever extending out away from the cartridge body and, if you squint, possibly the stylus, the small tip protruding from the cantilever.

What is a stylus or needle made of?

There are two main materials used to make a stylus, sapphire and diamond. The most common material used today is diamond.

Why are diamonds used for a stylus?

Simply put, the hardness of a diamond allows for much longer use and for the tip to be fashioned in a small enough size to deliver better musical performance.

What are the shapes of a stylus or needle?

There are a few different shapes of styli, but the most common are conical and elliptical, so we will focus on those below.

Conical Stylus

A conical shaped stylus is the least expensive and has a spherical tip, the size of which is smaller than the width of the record groove.

Again, Robert Harley, in his book, The Complete Guide to High-End Audio, does a great job explaining why a conical stylus is more budget friendly, but a less performing stylus.

Harley notes the conical stylus shape is different from the stylus used to actually cut the grooves into the record. This “cutting” stylus has a more triangular shape causing a conical shaped stylus to contact the groove walls differently, resulting in tracing distortion.

Also, according to Harley, a conical stylus can be pushed up out of the grooves, causing a pinch effect.

In short, a conical stylus isn’t contacting the groove walls as well as it should be which can cause a loss in audio performance.

Elliptical Stylus

Unlike the rounder conical stylus, the elliptical stylus has two flat faces which match closer to the shape of the cutting stylus, allowing for better tracking and removing the pinch effect.

Elliptical styli tend to better perform in the higher frequencies. I purchased my first elliptical stylus last year and instantly heard higher frequencies that were new to me.

If you are deciding between a conical and elliptical stylus for your turntable, I would highly recommend elliptical. When shopping, simply read the description from the manufacturer where they will list the stylus shape information.

Line Contact and Microline

There are two more stylus shapes, Line Contact and Microline. Audio Technica does a wonderful job explaining the differences in all stylus shapes and sizes here if you are interested in researching further.

How long does a stylus or needle last?

According to most manufacturers, a stylus or needle should last 1,000 hours before being replaced. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but if you consider how much music you listen to each day, it might last longer than you think.

For instance, during the work week, I might get two hours max listening time after I arrive home from work, eat dinner and hang out with the family. In addition to work days, let’s say I get 5 hours each on Saturday and Sunday (which is generous), giving me a total of 20 hours each week. That would add up to 50 weeks of listening before I needed to change out my stylus, meaning I need to change my stylus probably once a year.

Everyone’s listening time differs as does the general wear and tear of the stylus use. For instance, if you are playing old, beat up, dusty records, they may wear your stylus down much faster than someone listening to brand new vinyl. A regular cleaning of the stylus should help get the you most life out your purchase.

Just remember, when buying albums each year, be sure to budget extra money to add a new stylus during the year to better enhance your listening experience.

How do I clean a stylus or needle?

Several years ago, when I just getting serious about vintage hi-fi and record collecting, I bought a stack of records from a new local shop in our area. In that stack was an expensive copy of Grateful Dead’s Anthem of the Sun. I decided to save it for last when listening and by the time I played the album, it sounded awful. It was fuzzy and sound was barely there in certain parts. I started to kick myself for buying a bad copy at that price but then remembered to look at the stylus on my record player. That’s when I saw a big dust ball completely surrounding the stylus and realized it had been picking up dust from the other records played. Once I cleaned the stylus, the Grateful Dead LP played properly. This was not only a lesson in cleaning my stylus, but also in cleaning records before playing them.

I mostly use a stylus brush to quickly clean the stylus on my turntable. These can found online fairly easy, including this one from Amazon.

However, I’m interested in trying a gel bubble to also help remove static while cleaning the stylus. With a gel bubble, you simply dip the stylus into the bubble one or two times to clean it off.

Manufacturers recommend cleaning the stylus once a week. Again, if you listen to old dusty records, and do not clean the records before playing them, I would suggest cleaning both the records and stylus more frequently.

Can you repair a stylus or needle?

Newcomers to vinyl often ask me if they can repair the needle, aka stylus, on their record player.

The short answer is…it depends.

Most people who are new to vinyl use moving magnet cartridges instead of moving coil cartridges. I will write an article explaining the differences in each cartridge later, but for now, you simply need to know that a moving magnet cartridge stylus is much easier to replace, than retip.

Moving magnet cartridges have styli that can be easily removed and replaced. You simply slide the old stylus off the cartridge and slide the new one back in place. This is most cost effective as the manufacturers often price the stylus replacement slightly cheaper than if were to replace the whole cartridge.

However, the stylus on moving coil cartridges cannot be separated from the cartridge and replaced. The stylus must be retipped on the original cartridge. Often these services are priced at $200 or higher.

It may sound strange to pay $200 to have a moving coil cartridge retipped, but keep in mind, these cartridges can cost thousands of dollars to purchase. The buyer may want to pay $200 to retip the stylus on their expensive moving coil cartridge rather than spending thousands to buy a new one.

Tonearm balance and using a protractor

To get the best performance out of your stylus (via the cartridge settings), you want to ensure the tonearm is balanced and the cartridge is properly aligned.

I believe each of these tasks deserves its own article, but for now, I’ll include the two videos I send to friends asking me how to properly perform these tasks:

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