A shellac disc, no matter how damaged the grooves are, cannot hurt a DIAMOND stylus with a vtf of 3g or so.
I believe the phrase used in the original post was "badly damaged records", or similar wording. I assumed this description would include records that have a few gouges and scratches which run across the grooves at odd angles. The force per square inch brought to bear on any record stylus, even a larger stylus designed for 78 RPM playback, is enormous. The undulations and contortions a stylus has to follow make wear inevitable. The fact that these worn, abrasive, and damaged records are spinning at more than twice the speed of an LP only compounds the forces a stylus must endure. A diamond needle lasts longer than a steel needle, but it still wears. I stand by my original statement. Randy
