Charlie Hubbard wrote:

Scott, thanks for the suggestions. As you have probably discerned, I
basically have no idea what I'm doing so any further details on
exactly what mistracking is and what should be done to avoid it would
be most helpful.

Old Colony makes a very good introduction to LP playback that you might
want to try out.

Basically, the stylus needs to follow the grooves. If it does not follow
the grooves and starts bouncing around on peaks, tearing huge gouts of vinyl
off and destroying the record, it's not good.

Adding more tracking weight is an easy thing to try. Are there
guidelines for this? Stanton rates my cartridge for 2 to 5 grams
tracking weight. Having no idea if lighter is better than heavier, I
just went with 2.5g for no good reason. What should I do instead?

Play one of the inner tracks. Add weight and see when it stops mistracking.
Use that. Adjust the anti-skate in more or less the same way. Make sure
you have the overhang set up properly before you do any of this.

As for the stylus, I'm using the particular stylus that I'm using
because it was the one recommended for the Murray II for LPs when I
bought the turn table (purchased at www.78rpm.com). I did try to do a
careful job of aligning the cartridge when I mounted it in the
headshell but really, other than "don't play a 78 with a microgroove
stylus" I don't know anything about stylii. It appears you don't like
the Stanton. What would be more appropriate to my set up?

The Stanton is a great cartridge for 78s, but it's not a good match to
that arm, and frankly it doesn't track microgroove discs worth a damn.
It has very poor stereo separation (which again is not an issue for 78s).

I'd suggest starting with an inexpensive fineline type rather than an
elliptical. The Audio-Technica AT440 is a good first start for around
a hundred bucks. The fineline styli are much more touchy about VTA than
ellipticals but they will track worn material much better.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."