Abstract: A stylus for the capacitive pickup of information signals inscribed in a recording medium as a geometrical variation comprises a corundum single crystal rod having two parallel side faces, which are inherently flat and optically smooth, and a thin electrode film coated on one of these two side faces. The electrode film is normal to the c-axis of the crystal, and the longitudinal axis of the rod coincides with one of the a-axes. The rod is formed by the "edge defined film fed growth" method, wherein corundum melt is made to spread as a film over a flat shape-defining surface and a seed crystal is pulled vertically through a capillary so that an elongated crystal is continuously grown. The c-axes of the grown and seed crystals are parallel to the shape-defining surface and normal to the growth direction. Thereby, the rod is formed without the need of machining and abrading steps, other than steps for the shaping of a tip.