Stylus Groove Records

[Shinyoung Gedris]

Whileplaying all mono records with a 1-mil stylus may at first seem like a sensible option to collectors looking to explore the possibilities with the older standard, collectors have always assumed that mono records made in the stereo age have narrower grooves than the earliest mono records, the idea being that modern mastering engineers would expect most people to play mono reissues with a stereo cartridge sporting a 0.7-mil stylus. This raises a few questions: When did engineers start cutting mono records with narrower grooves? Is it OK to play vintage mono LPs with a 0.7-mil stylus and modern mono LPs with a 1-mil stylus? Which option sounds better? This article attempts to answer those questions.

The inconsistency of the groove widths also makes sense if we take into account that, according to mastering engineer Kevin Gray, there has never been a definitive spec for exactly how wide the grooves on a record should be, only a minimum. He explained that the minimum groove width for stereo LPs is 1 mil, and in this excellent review of the Ortofon CG 25 cartridge, Art Dudley explains that the minimum spec for mono LPs was about 2.15 mils.

Although I only had mono records cut by Van Gelder between 1956 and 1964 at my disposal, the widths of those grooves ranged between 3.0 and 3.75 mils for an average of about 3.25 mils. The records I examined included records released by the Blue Note and Prestige labels.

Next I took a look at a few mono jazz records released by Riverside, Columbia, and Atlantic between the years of 1958 and 1961. Here I found more consistency, with all the records having grooves measuring about 2.75 mils.

I then moved on to more modern mono records mastered from 1972 onward. The suspicion was obviously that these records would have narrower grooves, and sure enough, they were all below or slightly above the original mono microgroove standard, ranging between 1.9 and 2.4 mils. This included mono reissues released by United Artists, Toshiba, Original Jazz Classics, Classic Records, Disk Union, and Music Matters.

In my experience I have found that vintage mono records can sound excellent when played with both 1-mil and 0.7-mil styli. Below are two audio clips comparing playback of a vintage mono LP with both options:

In a perfect world, we all would have both stylus sizes at our disposal so we could choose how to play our vintage mono records on a case-by-case basis. But for many collectors, owning an additional cartridge with a 1-mil stylus is a luxury that cannot be afforded. To those collectors, I say from experience that your current 0.7-mil stylus is sure to track your vintage mono LPs without compromise. And for the die-hard vintage mono collectors out there who use a 1-mil stylus exclusively, you need not worry about playing your vintage mono LPs made in the 1960s with your current option, as they were in all likelihood intended for play with a 1-mil tip.

Keep your music sounding awesome! This kit has the essentials you need to keep your vinyl records clean and your stylus in top shape. Simple and easy. The RSC Kit brings it all together at a nice price.

Clean your records and your stylus with audiophile quality results, at an entry level price. The big cleaning pad makes it easy to clean your records. And easy to wash when it gets dirty. The 4oz mist spray bottle of G2 Record Cleaning Fluid has more than 500 mist sprays, to clean a lot of records! Use the label protector to keep the record label dry while mist spraying the G2 Fluid on the record.

The soft SC1 Stylus Brush and SC1 Fluid removes lint and gunk from the stylus and underside of the cartridge. Dampen the SC1 Brush with the stylus cleaning fluid for easy and fast cleaning. No harm to the stylus or cantilever. The unique SC1 Stylus brush is truly the best stylus brush on the market.

Don't settle for a cheap plastic record and stylus kit that doesn't work! Try the GrooveWasher Record & Stylus Care System. As with every GrooveWasher product, if you are not super satisfied, mail it back for a full refund.

This product is intended for hard surfaces only. Using this product on skin, eyes or clothing can cause irritation and is not recommended. Do not drink. Non-flammable. Environmentally non-hazardous.

CAUTION: Causes eye irritation. Avoid contact with eyes, skin or clothing. Rinse thoroughly after handling. Avoid contact with food. Do not drink. FIRST AID: If in eyes: Hold eye open and rinse slowly and gently with water for 5-10 minutes. Remove contact lenses, if present, and rinse for another 5 minutes. If on skin or clothing: Rinse skin or clothing immediately with plenty of water. If ingested, call a poison control center or doctor for treatment.

CONTAINS NO PHOSPHORUS.

California Prop 65 WARNING: This product can expose you to one or more chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and/or birth defects. For more information, go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.

I saw this photo on the web and at first it looked way out of scale, like those grooves seem to small compared to the stylus. Probably due from seeing many close ups of just the tip. I'd like a higher rez version of the file.

Then I started reading up on stylus type and found this article by Shure. I think anyone that is into vinyl needs to read this, its a must read. Well it might be boring for some but I found very informative. Made me want to look at my stylus under a scope.

So then I got to thinking, I need a scope. I starting looking at the cheap USB scopes on Amazon but I knew they would all have plastic optics with high abbe values and chromatic aberrations. But they might be good enough.

Then I starting to look at better microscopes and found this really cool old B&0 from 1973. They used it in many HS and University labs. They were built to be abused, they tested them over 200,000 times. Features like retractable lens so you can't smash it into the slide were put in with students in mind. I included some photos of it.

The optics in it are crazy, at least 12 glass ground lenses with two front surface mirrors were used to obtain the ability to zoom from 100x to 500x. Most scopes have 3 or 4 fixed focus lenses on a ring mount that you rotate. To make a zoom close to the clarity of the fixed focus types you need a more complicated array of lenses, its just not seen much today because of the cost complexity and fixed focus are cheaper to make and perform better for a given focal length as they don't try to be all things like a zoom does.

Remember that old Maxell ad with the guy being blown away by the speakers? I took that original poster to a shop and had it framed and wet mounted. Looks good in my retro stereo room. I'd love to have a high resolution photo of that stylus video or the one I posted and dry mount that as well. I dunno, something about that photo strikes me as something that needs to be in a vinyl stereo room.

thanks audio.bill. Most people just don't get the resolution capability of vinyl... the signal resolution capability is that tiny that an electron microscope is needed to see the groove tracking scale. In the picture shown the visible groove undulation are likely low bass notes as higher frequencies are smaller and would require greater magnification and tricks to show the actual stylus contact area tracing the smaller high frequencies. Note that he quotes 50 microns as the distance he moved the stylus for 60 frames of just a second or 2 showing 1 sine wave cycle of the lowest frequency

That is all purely conjecture and fabrication on your part Dave. You don't know if they are high or low frequencies as you had not even seen them before this photo or pseudo video. I would caution people reading into things like this.

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