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Why did I drag this out for so long?  The WT Reference arm I use has easily adjustable VTA, and for some time I suffered using a loose L-shaped Allen wrench for adjustments, with no way to keep track of how high the arm was set.  Although the arm has a "scale" on one of the right parts, there is no crosshair or adjacent marking on the corresponding piece.  So, if I forgot the setting between sessions, then I had to do "macro" as well as micro adjustment by ear.  Add bad electricity to the mix and you have the stuff of self pity.

A while back I put a piece of tape on the top of the gantry and carefully dialed in a 200 g record.  Then I marked on the tape hwere the free leg of the "L" pointed.  Then I did the same with my thinnest record.

I have spent too long guestimating the thickness of records and also the appropriate relative VTA.

Yesterday I finally measured and cut off a short-ish piece of the Allen wrench and put a knob on top of it.  Then I marked the knob at the known height mark on the arm gantry.

Today I dug up a dial guage, so now I know how thick the thickest and thinnest records are, and so the approximate relative thicknesses/VTAs/dial settings.  I have started putting a symbol relating to the VTA scale on LP jackets hwen I find the correct-sounding VTA.  This means I have only "micro" adjusting to do, and that only once, from here on out, at least as long as I keep this cartridge.

Hooray!

Paul S

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