The best phono cartridge alignment tool

For Azimuth I use the Hudson Hi Fi and I cut a piece of lighter card stock cut longer then the jig and placed it on top of the tone arm cartridge mount in a effort to simulate the VPI small steel bar to set the azimuth. When I seen the black line was in the center of the card stock across the entire jig that was a good indication that it was good.

It keep rechecking setup every week until I get a confidence its right.

Here ya go! And the price is right!

Feickert or Mint. But the most complete and thoughtful design is the SMARTractor. Which is over your budget. If you’re spending more than $2000 on a cartridge you ought to learn how to do setup yourself. A high end precision protractor is something you’ll use literally the rest of your audio life.

I have the Geo Disc, the Mint and the Feickert. Maybe because I wear bifocals I don’t’ recommend the Geo. Sighting down that rail to the pivot is near impossible. I have to stand way back to see the whole rail in focus.
The Mint is the most accurate thing I’ve ever seen, in theory. There are a couple “gotchas”. Both the arc the stylus traverses and the null point angles are extremely accurate. So accurate that if the spindle to pivot is off even a millimeter it’s not possible to align the cantilever to the grid at both null points simultaneously. Another gotcha is the only way to set overhang is trial and error. If the stylus is on target at both null points the overhang is correct. But there’s no reference. Just set the stylus on one grid and check it on the other. Simple, right? No. It will be off. Figuring which way and how much to change the overhang is a shot in the dark. It can easily take an hour. My work around was to tape down the Mint to the old cartridges overhang, then remove the old cartridge. The last gotcha is getting a powerful enough loop that doesn’t hit the cart before it’s in focus. Don’t believe anyone who says it’s easy. It’s a pain.
The Feickert automatically compensates for S2P error and has a reference for setting overhang. Aligning the cartridge to the grid is straight forward from there.
All protractors only get you in the ballpark. That last bit of adjustment is on you.