Audioquest Anti-Static Record Cleaner brush

One of the first things I went out and bought when I got my old Pro-Ject RM9.1 was a record brush. For those of you that are into vinyl, this is something of a no-duh purchase. Well, today, I found a new use for this.

Here was my problem:

Dust! I seem to have some serious static buildup — enough to zap me every time I touch my turntable during use. And, apparently, enough to charge the face of my little baby Ortofon Cadenza Black so that it sucks up dust like a Hoover.

I was worried that getting all that dust off of there was going to be a serious problem. I imagined bending the stylus, twisting it, or even snapping it off, if I used some kind of cloth. Assuming I could even wedge a Q-Tip in there, then what about getting cotton fibers wrapped around the axle (as it were)? Compressed air might do it, but then it might blow my coils right off the cart, too.

Anyway, turns out that the bristles on the Audioquest brush are the perfect length to gently clean all that right off. And given that the carbon fibers are anti-static, the dust literally (seriously!) leapt off of the cartridge and stylus — and did so without jostling it. Sweet!

I’m all clean again!

Oh, and the brush works great on records, too. 😉