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Old 9th Nov 2011, 12:10 am   #12
Darren-UK
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Blackpool, Lancashire, UK.
Posts: 4,061
Default Tracking weight.

Tracking weight is just another, but more common, term for 'stylus pressure'. This is, obviously, the pressure of the stylus on the record.

Back in post #4 we briefly described tracking weight and illustrated one means of adjusting it. Some record players have no means of adjustment, usually rubbishy single-play efforts, whereas some later decks have a weight at the rear of, and external to, the tonearm. These types are easily adjusted by means of a control with graduated scale. On machines with no means of adjustment, it only becomes a problem if a non original type of cartridge has to be fitted. In these cases it really is pot luck and you need to find a replacement cartridge and stylus with a recommended tracking weight matching, or very close to, that of the original. Tracking weights are often a little slack anyway, being quoted as 4 - 5g or 6 - 8g and so on.

So having decided you need to check and adjust the tracking weight for whatever reason, the big question is how do you do it when it's an older, or cruder, machine with no scale to read?

At one time various manufacturers produced what were commonly called "Stylus Pressure Gauges". The best known examples are those by Garrard; mechanical spring-balanced efforts of which older examples can probably no longer by relied upon for accuracy - not that they were that accurate to begin with.

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^ Not the best of images but it's included out of interest. The images shows a Garrard stylus pressure gauge "For microgroove records". I don't know its precise age but the original instructions which accompany it state that, at the time, Garrard still manufactured spring-driven deck motors.

It operates thus; the tonearm is positioned with the stylus resting on the little platform on the right. You then move the lever on the right, against spring pressure, to the point where the required stylus pressure is indicated on the adjacent scale. Next comes the tricky bit, you hold the lever at the required scale marking and check the indicator in the little oval window at top centre of the gadget. If the tracking weight (stylus pressure) is correct the indicator will sit midway in the window. If it isn't, you need to readjust the tracking weight on the tonearm, repeat the procedure - and keep this up until you get it right.

This particular gauge is no longer accurate enough for use (probably due to a weakened spring because of age) but I hang onto it as a collectors item, but you'll get the idea.

Not to worry though, stylus pressure gauges can still be obtained. Shure, for example, do them, although their range may be rather limited for older decks that track heavier. I don't know and can't be bothered to find out!

Alternatively you can obtain one of those little diddy digital scales to do the job.

"But I only have one or two record players and don't want to pay out for proper gauges, digital scales or whatever". That's perfectly understandable because unless you hoard or repair record players regularly you'll probably only use the gauge once or twice.

In these circumstances you can improvise to an acceptable degree of accuracy; so how about the following?

Grab a lollypop stick, measure and mark it's mid point, measure and mark two points - one at either end and equidistant from the mid point. Glue something suitable beneath the midpoint to act as a fulcrum; a piece cut off an old Biro refill for example. Dump your 'see-saw' contraption on the deck and let the tonearm rest with the stylus on one of the marked end points. Next, nick your wife's little metric weights from her kitchen scales, 1g, 2g etc., to the weight recommend by the cartridge/stylus manufacturer. If the see-saw balances, the tracking weight is OK. Otherwise adjust at the tonearm until it is OK.

If no such weights are to hand, you can do a reasonable - but probably not spot on - job using coins. Some examples of UK decimal coinage weights (Taken from the Answers.com website) are:

One pence: 3.56g
Two pence : 7.13g
Five pence : 3.25g
Ten pence : 6.50g
Twenty pence : 5.00g

Again, this range of weights probably won't achieve spot on results but it's better than nothing. This is especially so if the weight setting on your tonearm has for some reason been meddled with and gone way off the mark. If tracking weight is too light, the tonearm may bounce when it lowers onto a record and skid once it is on the record. Too heavy and the record may drag, especially if part of a stack, and damage to both records and stylus can and probably will result. In severe cases the deck motor can even be forced to run a tad slow. So in the absence of a proper gauge, the 'lollypop stick 'dodge, as comical as it may sound, could well save you a lot of agro.
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