VPI Speed Problem

Here's what I did. I turned on the TT and let it run for 10 minutes or so. I
put on a record. I don't use a weight or clamp, so that's immaterial. I put the
10" KAB strobe disc on top of the record. I checked the speed of the TT
using the strobe disk and its light. The speed was dead-on at 33 1/3 rpm.
You with me so far?

Then I put the stylus into the lead-in groove. You understand, I hope, that
placing a 10" disk atop a 12" record allows 2" of record to
be available for this. I checked the speed again, with the stylus in the groove.
It was exactly the same as before.

Over to you.

Edit: I guess I should note, if you are unfamiliar with a Lenco, that its speed
is infinitely variable from 16 to beyond 78 rpm. Thus it is simple to adjust its
speed using the strobe. The TT is plugged into a PS Audio P300 power plant
(regenerator) providing a steady 60 Hz.

You have to check the speed over the entire playing surface of the record. Anti-skate force and drag will differ towards the middle and end of LP. That is why I use my ear to fine adjust, after using the strobe. Play an original LP and early un-remastered cd of the same title. It should not be hard for you find an early cd that used the exact LP master. Sync the sound and see if they track each other perfectly thru the entire side. Look, I'll throw you a bone, you convinced me to some extent. A rimm drive may indeed hold the speed more accurately. But I find constant prat and bass drive to be very distracting to say the least.

Thanks for the bone, I guess. My 12" tonearm has no provision for anti-skating and the shorter arm on the same table is used without anti-skating. I've done the CD/LP comparison in the past before I got the KAB strobe. It's a pain in the neck and I found that the spacing between tracks was dissimilar in some cases, rendering the whole thing inaccurate.

We have now gone WAY off the track. My apologies to the OP.

Problem solved - I got the white lithium grease and applied it to both the flywheel ball-bearing as well as the platter ball-bearing. The TT measures perfect 33 1/3 and 45rpm speeds.

Thanks to all for your help - a pretty basic problem, I suppose, but I am new to this and relatively lame when it comes to anything mechanical, so I learned a lot :-)

Re-grease every couple months...