VPI JMW 12.7 Spindle/pivot distance

I'm sure if you call VPI (or this is something your dealer should be handling), they will get you all the info you need. VPI has very good customer service.

I live in the Azores / Portugal already contacted three dealers in Europe and say that VPI does not provide this kind of information which is ridiculous compared to other major manufacturers of arms that has all the information on their websites.
Already called several times without success for the VPI and have already sent an email, I am awaiting response.
I still think that it makes no sense to have a new arm inside the box and not being able to use it only because is not available in VPI website a simple information that is the distance between the spindle and the pivot for a JMW 12.7 tonearm and has now also should have to for JMW 10.5i and JMW 12.6 because there are many people like me who use VPI arms to install on other turntables.
I have a JMW 10.5i a latest version JMW 12.6 and now a JMW 12.7
These Tonearms are my favorites along with my Tri-Planar VII uii

VPI has a long history of NOT providing tonearm setup information. From your account it seems they don't even tell their dealers.

If dealer protection isn't the reason, the only other reason I can think of is that VPI would rather sell you a VPI table than help you set up their tonearm on another table.

This is not good customer service. "We won't give you the information you need to use our product." is horrible customer service, no matter how politely they say it. That's reason enough for me never to buy a VPI product, no matter how good they are. There are many excellent tonearms, who needs this aggravation?

Sorry for the rant. There are recent threads on this topic with links to useful information developed by independent sources. Search this forum and you'll find them, hope they help.

You're right.

On 18/02/2010 I asked the VPI this information:

"I have a new JMW 12.6 and wanted to install in a Micro Seiki RX-1500
Please can you provide the following specifications:

Effective length
Pivot-to-spindle distance
Overhang
Offset angle
Effective mass"

Their response:

"The pivot to spindle distance is 300mm. The other parameters are not available as the computer they are on is being repaired. The alignment jig supplied with the arm will give you excellent results"

Does anyone believe this response ... I see no problem in providing this type of information ... Virtually all Tonearms manufacturers make this information available on their websites.

Oy Vey, as Harry Weinsfeld would probably say himself if he were frustrated.

As a VPI Scout owner awaiting the Classic, I must say I have succeeded in learning all the info I was looking for related to the respective VPI tonearms in the end, but it took persistence, ingenuity and lots of patience.

For weeks I couldn't get through to them on the phone as it was either busy or I would get an automated message that it was not a VM machine. What was the phone for then, I wondered? Email is a crap shoot; I've received prompt responses here and there, but also had to wait for weeks for an answer. My favorite was an automated replay before Easter that VPI would be closed for like 4 weeks in observance of the holiday and they will respond to emails when they reopen. Wow, I thought, that's some holiday break in tough economic times.

That said, once I got a hold of Mike, he was very helpful and gave me all the info I asked for. VPI is a strange company, no doubt, and their tremendous long-standing success most likely contributes to their rather idiosyncratic customer service model.