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Mounting a Jelco Tonearm

This is from a good friend of mine who is having a dilemna mounting a Jelco Tonearm.  I hope someone is able to help:

" I've been trying to determine a foolproof method for accurately locating the hole for a tonearm in a plinth.   I think the pivot to spindle distance or the total effective length provided by Jelco is just wrong.    Everytime I mount this thing it seems like it's not quite in the position it should be so the cartridges sit 1) in the middle of the headshell and 2) line up nicely with the alignment grid.  I think one of the numbers is wrong. But which one, and by how much?


I actually have one of those Dennesen Soundtracktors.   Do you remember those?  They are basically an older, plastic version of the expensive, but very nice aluminum Dr. Feikert one.


There's got to be a simple, logical way to work this out.  


It's amazing I can't seem to find information on the Internet about this.  I wonder what audio shops do?"

Thanks in advance for your comments,

Louis


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lou_setriodes OP
414 posts
 
Thanks for the info, I'll let my friend know this
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cleeds
2,065 posts
 
Setting up a pickup arm may be a tricky process, but it's not exactly rocket science. helomech is correct - the goal is not to get the cartridge in the middle of the headshell. There's no reason a Dennesen Soundtracktor can't be used to set the pivot-to-spindle distance for the Jelco.

To really dial in the final alignment, I like a mirrored gauge, such as the Wallytractor.
jperry
1,408 posts
 
Does the Jelco come with a drilling/marking template?
islandmandan
848 posts
 
When I mounted my Dynavector 501 as per the specified pivot to spindle distance, the cartridge mounted so close to the back of the head shell, it made it difficult to connect the cartridge leads. I made a new arm board, moving the pivot to spindle distance ( I think it was about 5 mm). This allowed easier connection of the leads, and the cartridge overhang set up just as well on my Mint LP Best Tractor set up tool.

It sounds as good, or better than it ever did, so that leads me to believe pivot to spindle distance isn't as critical you may think, as long as overhang can be dialed in correctly. That's just my experience, someone else may have better information, and will set us both straight.

Regards,
Dan
schubert
4,867 posts
 
What kind of music are you listening to @islandmandan ?
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