Best protractor for aligning to cantilever

I bought the Wallytractor Universal and love it. It will solve the problem you're asking about and then some.

The good thing about the Wally Universal, it works on linear track, and pivot arms. Pivot arms it works with include 9" and 12" in both Baerwald and Löfgren formulas.

http://www.simplyblack.net/WVC/index_wally.html

What is the advantage of the Wally over using the setup included with the VPI and JMW arms? The needle needs to be placed over points on the curve. If it is really easier to be more accurate then I would get it But it is $250.

I am not sure about the Universal, as I do not have one, but my older Wally Tractors have parallel lines scratched in a mirror that allows the user to eliminate parallax while aligning the cantilever. Look over the instructions to see what I am talking about.

As with all recommendations of the Wally tools, understand that there are considerable problems actually getting them from Wally. Do a search here and on othet boards for more information.

I, too, have the Universal WallyTractor. I'm glad I bought it (over the non-Universal) simply because I've changed tonearms in the time that I've owned it.

If I had my druthers, however, I'd prefer the non-Universal WallyTractor. The null points (where you set the zenith angles) are on a different line from the overhang arc. This takes a fair amount of bending/stooping/body gymnastics to get the stylus accurately positioned on the zero points. The non-Universal version's null points are marked on the overhang arc so there's no more repositioning (and no additional body-gymnastics) of the WallyTractor to line up these spots.

Chris

p.s. Fortunately, I had no difficulties ordering my Tractor through Wally. It arrived to me days after I ordered it from him.

Hi Hyper:

First of all, I would recommend using the cantilever rather than the cartridge body with ANY alignment tool. If the cantilever cannot be viewed or is not referenced on a tool, I would discard that tool. This assumes the stylus is correctly positioned on the cantilever but that is better than making assumptions relative to the cartridge body.

I have not tried any of the Wally tools but understand they come highly recommended. Over the years I have used various two-point alignment devices but now have a Dennesen Soundtracktor with a single stylus reference point calculated from the Baerwald formula. It is marked for cantilever alignment. Both metal and plastic versions were produced. The only limitation with the Dennesen for me is that it requires precise location of the pivot point for the arm. Otherwise, it can be used with any pivoted arm (length).