A new way of adjusting anti skate!

@elliottbnewcombjr 

I agree that most folk have anti-skating wrong - mostly too high.

Look how many used cartridges have offset cantilevers - usually an indicator of anti-skate being out.

However in your methodology ( which I think is wrong ), you would have to be sure that your system does not have an imbalance to ensure that you do not end up using anti-skate force to correct an imbalance.

I prefer to use least distortion, optimal tracking and visual checking of the cantilever to ensure anti-skating is correct. 

dover

you are right, which is why I wrote

"I start with making sure my system is balanced l/r using test tones, SPL meter, then familiar music, not LP’s, rather CD’s and familiar Reel to Reel Tapes, that is fundamental."

Another probably important cause of uneven stylus wear is incorrect azimuth adjustment.  In fact, any azimuth setting that does not set the stylus tip symmetrically in the groove with respect to its two contact patches is going to result in uneven stylus wear, eventually.  This is the argument made by Korf for setting azimuth based on the fit of the stylus in the groove, not on electrical measurement of crosstalk, which will always have one setting the stylus at least slightly askew.

Any deviance from straight is ’oppositely’ reflected in a mirror, this makes it very easy to see and get azimuth straight

I use a 4" x 6" x 3mm mirror,

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07T31MRZ9?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_2&th=1

if you are a minimalist, this protractor is a mirror, same thickness as an LP. you need to make your own solution to measure overhang, and simply take it off the spindle, put it under the cartridge to set azimuth. 

https://www.amazon.com/Turntable-Cartridge-Stylus-Alignment-Protractor/dp/B005KR15HU

my latest find, a 30x magnified mirror with led light to keep below the cartridge to see the underside of the stylus

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CLLZYBVK?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1&th=1

I use this hudson hifi protractor, it has overhang measurement rings, and the other side is blank to watch and set anti-skate. I have a separage lp blank both sides for just anti-skate, will simply replace it after it get’s too scratched up from use.

and I needed some stylus cleaning fluid, it comes with a very nice wooden handled brush, tall bristles to clean the stylus

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQC1TN25?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_2

finally, not for azimuth precision, I use the mirror, but to check if the flat part of the headshell/cartridge is parallel when in the groove (arm height afjustment), these small bubble levels, you leave them on, pick 6,7,8,9mm size, kit od 5

small bubble levels

The problem is that some choose to use azimuth adjustment to optimize crosstalk measurements.  When you do that, the stylus will only end up symmetrically placed in the groove if the cartridge was perfectly constructed internally, which the end user can never know for sure.  If the coils are infinitesimally out of symmetry with respect to the magnets, then adjusting azimuth electronically will inevitably end up with azimuth set at something other than 90 degrees to the groove.  That is the basis for Korf's recommendation to set azimuth geometrically.  Your method is fine.