problems with adamant stylus

[Nickou]

Hi there

I recently bought some adamant NSH2S to their dealer in UK

I bought 3 , and all have the same problem : the left side is dead , liker after 20 hours of hard use

Somebody has the same problem ?

thanks

[dietrich10]

I thought the hours of a stylus was 20 hours hard work

[Phinster]

What do you mean 'left side dead'? Has the heater wire snapped?

[Nickou]

thye left side of the stylus has not been schapped corectly
good for dubplate , but not for mastering

[mossboss]

Thats a load of frog shit man
What do you use to cut your lacquers with mate???
Transco and Adamant come from the same hole
It is called label engineering there is little or no difference
Unless you got some supplier that no one else knows about than you may be doing all of us here a favour, you really want to let us know who it is please
This way we can all benefit from the difference of dub cutting and master cutting with a different stylus apart from the two mentioned above that everyone is using for the last humpty dumpty years with good results by the way
Arghhhh
And another thing by the way there may be a bad batch not unusual it has happened before no doubt it will happen again
Further
There is no such thing as "good for 20 hours" I have seen them bit the dust in 10 minutes and I have seen them doing over 80 hours
There is a post here from someone in Germany that claims 200 hours and still going
I believe it as we took the one out at around 80 hours as we did not believe it should have lasted that long although when inspscted it looked perfect under the microscope
In the balance it works out OK as a rule we do not complain as it is that way
Some do 10 hours others 3 and others 30-40 so it averages out ok if you are a pro cutter and keep track of what you are doing with a cutting sheet for every cut including times settings etc etc
Having said the above I see no reason that you cannot send them back to the supplier for assessment as well as ask their opinion by the way
They may replace them if there was a bad batch or they may not
It is worth a try
Keep in mind that no post in this forum goes unnoticed by the Tranco clan in the UK or Apollo/Transco in the USA so they are already aware of your post as well as your complain/querry about your issue asking others if they are having issues
They are very reasonable people regardless, they will replace product that has not performed
No problem there at all
Cheers

[andybee]

yes, send them back.
if there is a problem, you will get new ones.
I have also heard, that quality of styluses is
not as good as some years ago...

[prolearts]

Man, I for one, would love to see some pics of what kind of groove a stylus with 80 hours on it is cutting, let alone one with 200 hours. I don't think we ever use them for longer than 13-ish tops. Just gets too messy in the bottom of the groove and starts scuffing the groove walls most times.

We have been using Adamant for 4 years. About every 10th or 12th one just doesn't cut a super clean groove or seems to be the factor in dropping the chip a lot and they are good about replacing them when that occasionally happens.

Jason Ward
Chicago Mastering Service

[mossboss]

Once again They are very reasonable about it Even though they will never admitt it they know the shortcomings as well as the issues that can arise with them
They are priced accordingly as well they have not gone through the roof
Pro rata over many years just on inflation they could be double that but it they are not
Allowing a few bucks per cut or so covers their cost with a fair amount of margin
And yes there posts here with them doing 200 hours and I have seen them doing 80 odd still cutting real good but that is a freak rather then a purposefull act
Cheers

[theartofmastering]

Transco and Adamant come out of the same hole ??? I doubt that, Transco bought Micropoint a long time ago. Adamant is still produced in Japan as far as I know. And my limit is and always has been 10 hrs. Then a new stylus. 20 hrs is asking for trouble and you're way past a proper cut.

Maarten de Boer
The Masters
Emil Berliner Studios

[mossboss]

Transco and Adamant come out of the same hole ??? I doubt that, Transco bought Micropoint a long time ago. Adamant is still produced in Japan as far as I know. And my limit is and always has been 10 hrs. Then a new stylus. 20 hrs is asking for trouble and you're way past a proper cut.

Maarten de Boer
The Masters
Emil Berliner Studios

Hello Marten
So my friend when you chip one at 2 hours you still use it for the balance of 8??? hours remaining
What is wrong with checking the stylus and the groove of the test cut?
If it is ok why change it
There is a microscope provided for the purpose of mounting as well as inspecting the stylus
It takes 5 minutes to dissmount/remount the head so as to inspect the stylus if it gives a dirty cut
It may have come to the end of its life or it may have a bit of crap cooked at the tip which needs to be removed
Whatever, One just cannot just say that this is good for 20 hours or less or more
Having said that over many years as well as thousands of these made it seems that around the 20 hours is the average life span which I accept but it is not a given
I just do not get this argument about 1, 10, or 20 or any hours since if one reads this thread it will be obvious that it is not the case at all as the first poster is stating issues with a few cuts and that is not 20 hours
No big deal really just the way people see some things
If the stylus is giving you a good cut why change it regardless of hours if it does not the same applies Change it!
Cheers

[theartofmastering]

Somehow this answer gives me a bad feeling. . It presumes I'm stupid and after 30 years of disc cutting I find this unacceptable. When I buy new tires and one gets ripped by glass or anthing I replace it. Same thing goes for a chipped stylus. The last time I chipped a stylus was about 20 years ago when I did something stupid. Watching the groove alone doesn't tell you anything about the absolute sound quality. I found that after about 10 hours I could defintely hear a difference between the first cut and the last one. That for me is reason enough to change the stylus. Every cut deserves the same quality. When you change a stylus because your eyes tell you it is going down, sound wise you're too late. It is not a discussion, I''m just telling the forum how I work. If you feel you want to do it different please go ahead, anybody is entitled to his own standards.

Maarten de Boer
The Masters
Emil Berliner Studios

[JayDC]

i always thought that when cutting a master, you are to use a new stylus for each master. I was under the impression that part of the cost of disc mastering was a new stylus. Interesting to note that this isn't the case..

[theartofmastering]

I suppose that would be ideal. However that is stretching a bit. The sapphire doesn't wear out that fast. As I said I watch to see if I will get a clean noise free cut, I listen to see if the stylus is still giving the best sound possible

Maarten de Boer
The Masters
Emil Berliner Studios

[Phinster]

A new stylus for every master!? You wouldn't stay in business very long, what with styli being around $ 60 each. You would have to charge an excessive amount for cutting lacquers.

New styli need a wearing in period anyway, depending what you are cutting,
they should last about 20 hrs. Remember corundum is nearly as hard as diamond. Changing it every hour or so would be a tremendous waste of resources.

[Aussie0zborn]

I was just flicking through my 11-JUN-77 issue of Billboard and spotted this...

According to the manufacturer, an Adamant stylus should last for 15 - 20 masters. Assuming they are talking about LPs with a total time of 40 minutes, that would be 10 - 13 hours.

[JayDC]

A new stylus for every master!? You wouldn't stay in business very long, what with styli being around $ 60 each. You would have to charge an excessive amount for cutting lacquers.

New styli need a wearing in period anyway, depending what you are cutting,
they should last about 20 hrs. Remember corundum is nearly as hard as diamond. Changing it every hour or so would be a tremendous waste of resources.

where are you getting $60 dollar styli? I called apollo, and they want $88 for a short shank transco 362..

makes me think i should add an hours counter on the lathe..

[Phinster]

I do beg your pardon, your price is closer to what they charge nowadays.

I find the Micropoints (transco) more reliable than the Adamants.

Cut a lot of hot drum and bass slates, the Adamant heater wire would usually
snap after a while due to the way they wound and cemented it.

The Transco's use a different way of winding, and I have never had that happen with them. I think the Transco's sound better.

Use a VMS 80 with a stylus timer, and usually get about 20 hrs average,before the noise spots become too obvious.

The thing to watch out for with Transco's is the collet length, they seem to vary!

[JayDC]

Use a VMS 80 with a stylus timer, and usually get about 20 hrs average,before the noise spots become too obvious.

hehe i wish, one day.. i have a presto 6n..

[mossboss]

Somehow this answer gives me a bad feeling. . It presumes I'm stupid and after 30 years of disc cutting I find this unacceptable. When I buy new tires and one gets ripped by glass or anthing I replace it. Same thing goes for a chipped stylus. The last time I chipped a stylus was about 20 years ago when I did something stupid. Watching the groove alone doesn't tell you anything about the absolute sound quality. I found that after about 10 hours I could defintely hear a difference between the first cut and the last one. That for me is reason enough to change the stylus. Every cut deserves the same quality. When you change a stylus because your eyes tell you it is going down, sound wise you're too late. It is not a discussion, I''m just telling the forum how I work. If you feel you want to do it different please go ahead, anybody is entitled to his own standards.

Maarten de Boer
The Masters
Emil Berliner Studios

Maarten
I am not sure that you are quite right my friend in regards to your feelings
In my post I am clearly stating that if you are getting good results why change it
I also pointed out that they do and do not last There is nothing personal about it Maarten or even Points of view just past as well as present knowledge
I really mean no offence at all
I supose my opening line may have been misconstrued
Regardless here is the discussion some time back FYI as the subject has been touched upon here before where Max confirms 200 hours Go figure I have never seen them any where near that
The post's as well as his reply on this thread is interesting
https://lathetrolls.com/viewtopic.php?t=1573&highlight=cutting+200+hours&mforum=lathetrolls

[philbrown]

There has always been a question about diamond styli. I've cut with sapphire
and diamond and the only difference I could tell was a slight tendency for the diamond to chip slightly more easily. In all the years I cut I never relied on hours to change a stylus. That's what the test cut on the outside edge is for.
Phil Brown