The guy at a Portland swap meet showed me how to test a turntable stylus with a dollar bill
I was digging through a crate of records at the swap meet off SE Powell in Portland last month when an older guy noticed me squinting at a turntable needle. He pulled a worn dollar bill out of his wallet, slid it under the stylus, and said "if it grabs the paper and pulls back, the tip's still got life in it." He also showed me how to check the tonearm for play by wiggling it gently, which I never would have thought to do. I ended up passing on that table but used his trick on two others that day and it saved me from buying a dead needle. Has anyone else picked up little test tricks like this from strangers at swap meets?