Inner groove distortion solved!

So exactly as I said, too much twist, too much anti-skate. Way too much, apparently.

Now here's the thing. The skating force varies as the record plays. The more drag on the stylus the greater the force. The amount of anti-skate that is perfect for loud music will be a little too much when its quiet and way too much when its silent. If you're with me then you know what's coming next: the blank record method is even less drag than a blank lead-in groove, and so your stationary arm method isn't nearly enough anti-skate.

In other words, what you have done so far is go from way, way, WAY too much anti-skate to not quite enough. You were so far off that this seems better. And it is. But it could be better still.

Search around on Sound-smith.com and watch Lederman's anti-skate tutorial. The correct way of setting this is playing a really high amplitude track. Then if you get no breakup its perfect. If the left breaks up that's the inside groove and you need less anti-skate. If the R breaks up that's the outside and you need more.

You're a lot closer now. But still not quite there yet.

A test record that has progressive levels of intensity and combined tones, so you can hear the anti-skate channel matching emerge via the distortion in each channel. Being careful to pull the stylus out of the groove of the anti-skate test section the moment you discern the increase in intensity of the given distortion, in one channel vs the other. Then to set it so they break up in each channel evenly.

an anti skate test section on a test record...only has so much life in it, and then it is finished...

Or we may progress to more modern versions of this ’test’. (software, computers, etc)

What's the point of getting anal about anti-skate, once one has arrived at a value that avoids grossly audible distortions?  Every single LP will be different at the minute level, and no LP will be exactly like any test LP.  Joey, I'd say, if you're happy, forgeddaboudit.

Thanks all. I did watch the Lederman video yet again and took millers advice and put on a record that has a demanding passage at the end. There was breakup in the left channel so I made small adjustments until the distortion was minimal and both channels were relatively equal. I can be anal lewm, just ask my wife, but I listen carefully and if I don't feel that I am getting the most from my rig I am bothered. With all of your help I think I am much happier. Happy and healthy New Year to all.

I did watch the Lederman video yet again and took millers advice and put on a record that has a demanding passage at the end. There was breakup in the left channel so I made small adjustments until the distortion was minimal and both channels were relatively equal.

Perfect!

Analog playback is far from the black magic everyone makes it out to be. Its actually really easy to understand, at least once its explained. Ledermann I think is even better at this than Fremer, maybe even as good as Miller! Almost! Ha! 

Anti-skate is just one small aspect of perfect LP playback. If you listen close, want to get the most, and are willing to try things like this then you are in the most rewarding niche in all of audio. 

So where you are now, you've pretty well gotten rid of all of the worst most obvious mis-tracking. Your rig is sounding a lot better now. You may even notice it sounds better even in places you never thought it was bad before. That's the beauty- you fix one problem, you notice benefits well beyond. Huge side benefit, you've learned to hear - and understand it. Take this same approach with the rest- VTA, VTF, etc- learn to understand both the mechanical aspects as well as how they sound, its really hard to overestimate just how much better you can go even from here.