Question about different record materials

[aaron]

I have a question that maybe some of the trolls here may be able to answer.

There's a lot of talk about cutting into different types of plastics (and even copper!). My question is, would different materials be harder on playback stylii? I was thinking about it, and it seems to me that as long as you have the proper groove geometry, and a nice clean cut, it shouldn't make a difference what material is being played back. Am I correct?

[subkontrabob]

I have a question that maybe some of the trolls here may be able to answer.

There's a lot of talk about cutting into different types of plastics (and even copper!). My question is, would different materials be harder on playback stylii? I was thinking about it, and it seems to me that as long as you have the proper groove geometry, and a nice clean cut, it shouldn't make a difference what material is being played back. Am I correct?

There is always a tradeoff as to what part of the chain wears out at playback.

Parameters are tracking weight, stylus material, and disc material (hardness and "grainyness").

Old shellac discs were designed to be very durable, they act like sanding paper on the stylus. Hence you can use playback needles only once on gramophones. But I remember reading somewhere, that even with vinyl, the stylus wears slowly down, and contact surface between stylus and groove gets bigger. If you don't change your playback needles often enough they will develop little edges, that will eventually start to increase record wear.

In conclusion, I suppose the harder the material, the greater the needle wear.