Hello everybody. Just getting into "audiophiling" in baby steps. This thread is kind of a help thread...what a way to start off here, but hey! Whatyagonnadoo!

I recently attained a Denon DP-30L, a really nice direct drive turntable, I believe from the early 80's at a GREAT deal!

I was detailing/cleaning it up, because it was of course used, not abused, but slightly dusty and dirty. I buffed up the cover...aircanned it, very clean in and out (insides were dustless!), took my time, now its nice!

BUT! BUT! Here's the effed up part. The cartridge, its a tan Grado MF1 cartridge with matching original stylus. It came with a little stylus protective clip which I think Grado stylus' come with, anyway, since I'm new to this stuff and I didn't have any instructions on how to put back the little protective clip, I pressed it up onto the cartridge so I would snap in place for protection as I was going to do some final details.

Then the suddenly clip snapped in two right down the middle and I ended up pressing the needle up against the body of the cartridge! It left the stylus/needle misaligned. The pain, you can imagine. I had to sit it off for a while...

I used tweezers to straighten it out carefully. I slightly dented the cantilever but didn't bent it. The stylus is now slightly crooked from its base/rubber gromet, the cantilever is not bent. When I look at it straight on from the front the cartridge, the stylus leans slightly curved to my right.

Now, I hooked it up and played a Jazz record (Madhouse 6), a spare promo LP copy I had, to test it out. And much to my amazement, the sound was fabulous! There was no audible noise that was out of norm.

Before this I cleaned the needle with stylus cleaner and its nice and clean (bright aluminum) with no defects from what I can see and its still sounds great.

So I'm wondering, its $75 bucks for a new stylus (Grado Silver), okay, kind of pricey understandably, but I really wanted to keep the deal sweet...Will the stylus in this condition ruin records?

Should I adjust the tracking force because of the slight crookedness?

Oh and the cartridge rides a little low, is that normal? In inches I'd say its about 1 to 2/16ths above the record as it plays. With the counter weight adjusted so its not forcing the arm down too much and not too light.

Thanks for your suggestions and help!