Hey Randy, I don't know if any of these questions were already answered,
but if not, here's my take on things.
Gruv Glide is crap. Don't use it. It leaves residue. Residue is bad.
Residue causes "a fair amount of gunk build up" on your cartridge.
Residue INCREASES friction. The best way of reducing friction is a
meticulous record cleaning regimen. If you can't afford a record
cleaning machine, at least have a carbon fiber brush around. They'll
get the big nasty stuff off the record. "The Disk Doctor" has a very
effective cleaning system that you can use without a record cleaning
machine. I'm spoiled with my VPI 16.5. It's so easy to use. I'd
advise you against using "home brew" solutions with tap water and dish
washing liquid. Both the tap water and the dish washing soap will leave
residue on the vinyl and may make the problem worse. Matter of fact,
some of the residue left by tap water and dish detergent is more
difficult to get off the record than the goo you're trying to
eradicate. I hate to admit it, but I use pure anhydrous isopropynol to
clean LPs (which will destroy 78s by the way). It leaves virtually zero
residue, dries quickly, and it doesn't seem to hurt my VPI record
cleaner. There are residues from the record manufacturing process that
cannot be removed by soap and water. In chemistry, you learn of
different kinds of bonds: ionic, anionic, etc... You need a cleaning
solution that has some kind of solvent (alcohol, or Vertrel or???) to
get the really tough stuff off.
Actually read this site: http://discdoc.com/ I know that Duane Goldman
is on this list and he knows much more about this stuff than I do. He
also will disagree with my use of anhydrous isopropynol, but I like it
and it's convenient for me.

To clean your cartridge tip of general dust/debris, try using an
artist's paint brush (as opposed to the kind for painting walls).
They're gentle and get the job done. You'll have to cut it down to size
(or at least I have to) so it's easy to get under the cartridge. I
don't like the idea of using any kind of fabric. Suppose you get the
stylus snagged in the fabric and you pull the cantilever too hard? Not
good. The toothbrush bristles is a better idea. I used to use
denatured alcohol to clean the stylus, BUT, alcohol attacks the rubber
in the suspension of the cartridge. There is, or at least I'm told
there is, a special alcohol that can clean the stylus tip without
damaging the rubber. Audio Technica, supposedly, uses it in their
cleaning formula. Is there a chemist here that knows what I'm talking
about? Never make swirling/circle or poking motions with your cleaning
apparatus! If you want to poke, get a stick and look for a dog to
aggravate. Only pull from the back of the cartridge forward, just like
it tracks a record. If you push from the front of the cartridge to the
back, you are putting stresses on the cantilever and suspension that the
cartridge wasn't designed to take. Now days, I just brush it off. I
never clean it with any liquid that might "wick" up into the
suspension. There are (for the OCD audiophile types) ultrasonic
cleaners. I've never tried one. The thing to remember is that the
stylus is pretty tough since it's made of diamond. The thing to watch
out for is bending the cantilever or knocking the suspension out of whack.

The headshell issue: go to MCM electronics online and search for their
generic headshell. They're well made and cheap. It's a skeletal (low
mass) design. By the way, if you don't have a cartridge balance, like
the low cost Shure, you need to get one (from The Disk Doctor).
Adjusting the VTF without one is kind of risky. You might set the
tracking way to high, which might sound okay, but eventually the
cartridge will fail. I do tweak the tracking force by ear, but only
after starting off at the factory recommended setting with my cartridge
balance (always on the high side of the recommendation sounds best to
me). What you do by adding a heavier counterweight is change the
resonance frequency of the arm/cartridge combination. When you add a
heavier counterweight, you increase the total mass, lowering the
resonance frequency of the arm and cartridge combination. That's not
necessarily a good OR bad thing. It's just something to know. If you
are using a lowish compliance "DJ" stylus, the extra weight will fix a
common problem with DJ cartridges: mid bass bloat (a resonance that
occurs in the range of the music, causing the bass to be bloated and
thick). Very high compliance cartridges like the Shure V15 might have
problems with the extra mass added with the heavier counterweight. It
might cause "woofer pumping" where the suspension of the cartridge
cannot control the motion of the arm effectively (think of it as putting
economy car shock absorbers on a 18 wheeler--the truck is too heavy for
the shocks to be able to control the motion of the truck and the truck
flies all over the road). With very low compliance cartridges (almost
always a moving coil), the extra mass is needed to get the cartridge to
function properly. I've heard very good moving coil cartridges sound
bright and harsh because they were mounted on a low mass tonearm.

Hope this helps a little.
Phillip



Do you have a

RL C PayPal` wrote:
> Hey...I'm a bit of a lurker, but I haven't been around to keep up on
> things for a couple weeks, so forgive me if this is already covered. I
> bought some new needles recently and ran into a couple small problems
> while I was replacing them and trying to recalibrate things.
>
> While changing the needles for my TT I noticed there was a fair amount of
> gunk build up and I figured I should probably get one of those stylus
> cleaning kits. It seems there are a couple decent products, but I'm
> unsure on which would be more effective. The Discwasher SC2 seems to
> have a small velvet or felt pad that you gently drag the stylus across
> the short nap after putting the cleaner on the needle and/or pad. The
> Stanton SC4 has a longer brush that looks like toothbrush bristles, so I
> assume you put the cleaner on the stylus and then sweep the brush around
> the needle or poke at it. Having never used either I can not really
> judge which would be most effective in cleaning without damaging the
> stylus and would appreciate any thoughts.
>
> While I'm asking questions, I'm also concerned about the counter weight
> on my tone arm. I've got one of the Esoteric TT, which seems to be a
> hot rodded version of the standard Technics/Gemini TT. They sent me a
> "transcription" head shell with the TT instead of the standard Technics
> shell that it likely would have come with. The Transcription HS is about
> 2 grams heavier than the standard HS and I've never been able to get the
> arm to properly balance out at zero. I rather like the HS and don't wish
> to have to replace it if I can avoid it. I was looking into whether I
> can buy a new counter weight so it will have enough heft to balance
> properly. The counter weight that it comes with is just a tad under 4oz
> and goes from 0-2.5 in .5 increments (with 0 actually being 3). I found
> a place that sells the Technics counterweight that goes from 0-3.5. Can
> I put this heavier counter weight onto the tone arm or is the weight of
> the counter weight specifically gauged by the weight of that particular
> tone arm. Getting a new weight seems like the best solution, but on all
> the various TT cart set up/tweak pages I can find on the net don't seem
> to have info about this problem.
>
> Finally, does anyone have experience with "Gruv Glide" or other "groove
> lubricants". You are supposed to rub the Gruv Glide into the groove
> which will instantly improve sound by reducing friction of stylus in
> groove and all while not damaging the record. Is this legit or snakeoil.
> Thanx, it's a real help to listen to what the group has to say about
> many topics that end up here. Randy
>
>
>
>