💎 Stylus Replacement Interval Estimator
Enter your estimated hours of play and your stylus type's typical lifespan to see roughly how worn it is and how many hours of life remain.
How the wear figure is worked out
The tool compares the hours you have played against the typical life of the tip profile you chose. Nothing is measured; it is a straight ratio:
wear % = hours played / typical lifespan × 100
remaining = typical lifespan - hours playedFour hundred hours on an elliptical stylus rated at 800 is 50 percent, with 400 hours left. Remaining hours stop at zero rather than going negative, while the percentage keeps climbing. The assessment line changes at 80 percent to "inspect soon" and again at 100 percent to "past typical lifespan".
Turning records into hours
Nobody counts playing hours directly, so work back from albums. A 12-inch LP runs about 40 minutes across both sides, so three albums a week is roughly two hours, or a little over 100 hours a year. At that rate an 800-hour elliptical lasts the best part of eight years.
| Tip profile | Typical life |
|---|---|
| Conical / spherical | 500 hours |
| Elliptical | 800 hours |
| Line contact, Shibata, microline | 1,200 hours and up |
Those numbers assume tracking force inside the cartridge's range and clean records. Dust is abrasive, so playing dirty records wears the tip faster than the hours suggest, as does tracking heavy or badly aligned.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a turntable stylus last?
Around 500 hours for a conical tip, 800 for an elliptical and 1,200 or more for a line-contact or Shibata profile, given correct tracking force and clean records.
How can I tell if my stylus is worn?
Hours are only a prompt. The tip has to be looked at under magnification, or by a dealer, since a worn diamond is visible as a flat or a chipped facet long before most people hear the difference.
Does a worn stylus damage records?
Yes. A worn tip no longer sits correctly in the groove wall and scrapes it, and that damage is permanent. It is the reason to replace early rather than run the last hundred hours out.