Linear Tracker ...I was wondering

I wouldn't be too concerned with the horizontal mass. Theoretically - consider the mechanical advantage of an inclined plane - the record groove. That means 100 microns of lateral motion in each revolution, during which the stylus moves about 70 cm, for a mechanical advantage of 0.70/0.00010 = 7000 or so.

Experimentally, anything like what you suggest should manifest on one side of the stylus, and quickly too. After nearly 1000 hours, my Koetsu shows very little wear, and what little wear there is, is almost perfectly symmetrical. (From a photomicrograph using a scanning electron microscope.)

Kuzma Air Line uses a high pressure air hose attached to a New Way amorphous carbon air bushing (mass about 30 g if I have the model right). That air hose generates a very large force, relative to the stylus in the groove - it supposedly provides the necessary damping. No wonder the 4Point sounds better.

Horizontal mass? Is that related to the horizontal mambo?

terry9"Theoretically - consider the mechanical advantage of an inclined plane - the record groove."

If you're records are an inclined plane then you need to level you're turntable because you're VTF and AS forces will be all over the place and you will suffer other playback problems if you're out of level with your turntable.

Terry, you are using the best cartridge for a linear tracker, very low compliance. I be very interested in what your vertical and lateral resonance points are if you have a test record that breaks them up. The HI FI News record does this. Of course your stylus wears symmetrically. The net effect of a perfectly set up linear tracker (level) is no skating. The tonearm just oscillates slightly at very low frequency. The Koetsu is so stiff you might not be able to see it. In a way you are right. Warps occur in the vertical plane so a low horizontal figure is not as significant. The best design of all might just be the Clearaudio  as the arm is short and It looks like the resonance frequencies might be closer together. I almost bought one but in viewing the videos I noticed in several cases the cantilever oscillation. The other problem is that the glass tube has to remain perfectly clean but it is open to air. 

The Trans-Fi also has a very short arm wand. I think that you are absolutely correct in your last sentence - that's exactly why I don't want one. Years ago I talked with the late Tom Fletcher of Nottingham Analogue fame, and he warned me against his linear tracker for exactly that reason, "It skips, so you clean the beam. It still skips and you clean it again. Sometimes twice is enough. Sometimes you can't see a thing and it still skips. Sometimes you clean 10 times. But when it doesn't skip, it's all worth it - to the right person."

Inclined plane. If the record groove is viewed as a curled inclined plane in which the stylus rides, then it is easy to calculate the forces acting on the stylus. An old mathematical trick: translate the problem you have into a problem you have already solved.