Will fine tune adjustments with protractor help with "brightness?"

Try lowering the VTA. Sometimes that will tame the brightness on certain cartridges!

Even with Technics own gauge and Technics own alignment (which is close to Stevenson) there is absolutely no problem with 10-15 different cartridges i have tried, none of them is changing sound from beggining to the end of the record like described by Brent. Maybe his ears are special :)  

The alignment will do very little with the cartridge signature sound. If it's bright for you then it's the cartridge, you could use alternative loading of your cartridge, maybe lower than 47k Ohm in this case. 

 Because the character of the sound changes as the cartridge moves from outer to inner grooves, it is reasonable to think that his issue might be ameliorated if he uses a different alignment from that recommended by the factory. However, I also do think it’s reasonable to expect better sound from a better cartridge. An alignment  protractor like the Feickert which offers several options might help matters in this case. Don’t use the Stevenson option.

MOFI Master Tracker is a fantastic MM cartridge built by Audio Technica. It's essentially a VM760SLC in a different aluminum body. 

I really doubt you can get more out of your cart with different alignment, the sound signature will not change, you'd better get a decent cartridge instead. 

It's now set somewhere close to Stevenson, somewhere close because Japanese are clueless when it comes to alignment. Get a proper protractor and try Lofgren A or B.