You can lift the needle off by hand. Most people do this. That won't hurt anything.Look at the thread above called "Technics SL1500 problem - down a channel or ?". I'm beginning to wonder if some of these turntables haven't been sold as mono units, perhaps for DJ's that "scratch" or something.
Whatever the case, turntables aren't very hard to troubleshoot. Find where the signal stops and you'll know where the trouble is.