Do I need an overhang gauge, in addition to a protractor to position cartridge correctly?

millercarbon

Overhang is the distance from the tip of the stylus to the vertical axis the tone arm pivots on.

That’s completely mistaken. What you’ve described is the pickup arm’s effective length.

Overhang is the distance between pivot and spindle, plus the amount that the stylus point actually "overhangs" beyond the spindle. The use of an overhung arm with a phono cartridge offset angle reduces tracking error and those two angles are the basis for the two null points. Your protractor will set overhang as it sets those null points.

An overhang of around 16mm is common for a 9-inch arm.

Dear @peterhaze476 : No, you only need the protractor, no need an overhang device.


Btw, @cleeds  :

""  Overhang is the distance between pivot and spindle, plus the amount that the stylus point actually "overhangs" beyond the spindle .."""

not exactly as you stated. Overhang is the distance between the center of the TT spindle and the stylus tip settle by the protractor. It's that small distance in between.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

If you have a removable headshell and use the protractor to set up your cartridge perfectly and are happy with the alignment than here is a tip.Measure from the end of the headshell seat, including the rubber ring to the stylus tip. Record that measurement.Now if you want to install another cartridge in another headshell just duplicate that measurement and your golden.
Note: Cartridge must be aligned straight in the headshell for this to work, if your cartridge is skewed at an angle it won't give you the proper alignment.This is the principle behind the cartridge overhang gauge that was provided with so many TT's.

BillWojo

rauliruegas

Btw, @cleeds  :
 Overhang is the distance between the center of the TT spindle and the stylus tip settle by the protractor. It's that small distance in between.

Fair enough, although I think neither of us stated it perfectly clearly. ; |
Overhang is the small distance (about 16mm in the OP's case) that the stylus point "overhangs" the spindle. As I noted, the purpose of overhang (combined with offset) is to reduce tracking error.

Oddly, there are "underhung" arms, which while subject to greater tracking error, do minimize antiskating problems. Some users report excellent sound from them. I've never heard one, but I admit I'm curious.

@rauliruegas and @cleeds
What is your opinion about this statement from another audiogoner that was posted last year?
 

Vinyl heresy-overhang induced distortion is not that important

I have learned and am of the opinion that the quality of the drive unit, the quality of the tonearm, the quality of the cartridge and phono stage and compatibility/setting of all these things (other than setting overhang) and the setting of proper VTF, VTA, SRA, and azimuth are far more important than worrying about how much arc-induced and overhang- induced (the two are related) distortion one has. I learned this the hard way. I will not go into details but please trust me-I am talking about my new ~15K of turntable components for the deck itself and excluding cartridge and phono stage. I have experimented with simply slamming a cartridge all the way forward in the headshell, placing the cartridge mid-way along the headshell slots, and slammed all the way back, each time re-setting VTF, VTA, SRA, and azimuth. I would defy anyone to pick out the differences. I have 30K of tube separates, a Manley Steelhead, and DeVore O/93’s. I submit that any differences in distortion due to sub-optimum arcs and deviations from the two null points and where they are located (those peaks in distortion) are masked several times over by distortion imposed by my tubed gear and my loudspeakers. To believe that your electronics and loudspeakers have less distortion than arc-induced distortion is unrealistic. I have heard startling dynamics, soundstaging, and detail with all three set-ups. It is outright fun to listen to and far preferable to my very good digital rig with all three set-ups.
My point is that getting perfect alignment is often, not always, like putting lipstick on a pig, I think back on my days on owning a VPI Classic and then a VPI Prime and my having Yip of Mint Protractors fashion custom-made protractors for each of these decks and my many hours of sitting all bent over with eye to jewelers loop staring down horizontal twist among parallax channels and getting overhang on the exact spots of two grids and yet never hearing anything close to the level of sound I get now. Same cartridges, same phono stage, only my turntable/arm combination has changed. I kept thinking the answer had to be in perfect alignment when it was clearly everything else but.
Thoughts? I am sure I will get all kinds of flack. But for those that do tell me I am nuts, try my experiment sometime with a top-tier deck/arm combination and report back.