Built a stylus hour meter yesterday. $5 eBay hour meter, electrical box, blank switchplate, junkbox switch, pilot lamp assembly, power cord. Total cost: US$10.52.

What a nice looking piece, Tom. The analog display is a special touch.

Do you switch it on-off manually, or have you figured out a way of switching it along with the arm movement or platter?

Jorge

I'll make mine Jorge's words. Great looks.

Thanks very much, guys.

I tried like mad to figure out a way to have the meter switch on and off with the TT but I just could not do it without altering the internal TT wiring. So that means I have to turn the meter on and off manually. One good point is that if I forget to switch it off manually, the meter will still be switched off when I'm finished listening, because the meter is plugged into the switched outlet on the rear of the Yamaha.

Being analog is good because it looks good and it was inexpensive. The bad part is that this meter ticks like a clock when in use, and every 30 seconds there's a louder "click!" as it resets to keep on running.

Do you remember mechanical automotive dashboard/fascia clocks up until the 1980s? Every so often, you'd hear a "click!" from it. Internally, the mainspring has an arm with a contact on it. When the mainspring and arm are totally unwound, the contact on the arm touches another contact, energizing a tiny solenoid to spin the arm up and wind the mainspring again. This repeats every 30 seconds. I'll just have to turn up the volume when I play records!

I've figured roughly that I've put about 350 hours on this OM20 stylus over the past 20 years (over 200 the last year and a half), so I'm running the meter constantly until it reads 350. Then I'll switch it on and off along with the TT until it reads 800 or so. After that, I'll put in the OM10Super stylus that I got and put about 100 hours on, run the meter until it reads 900, then switch it on and off along with the TT.

When it reads 1600 or so, it's time for a new stylus or cart!

You´ll be and old man, by then, Tom.

Jorge

One of the least successful products ever sold under the "Pickering" name was the Pickering Stylus Timer. I don't remember exactly how it worked, other than the fact that it worked well, and even received a nod of an endorsement from Consumer Reports. Still, in terms of sales, it was an absolute dog.

We used to joke when I worked for Pickering that the best salesperson in the country would receive some sort of wortwhile prize, and that the worst salesman would receive a Stylus Timer!