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Feickert analogue protractor....Owners impressions

I'm contemplating the purchase of this brand of protractor.

Over the years I have relied on a good friend to mount cartridges and set up the few tables that I have owned in the past.
Relying on someone else to do this was for good reason.

I would never make it as a watch maker or any other profession that requires a fine touch and skill with steady hands.
The time has come where I will have to do this totally on my own.

My question to you owners of the Feickert protractor is what is your experience with it regarding ease of use and accuracy compared to other protractors?

Secondly, the disk has strobe markings for speed set up, does the Feickert package come with a strobe light for the $250. selling price?

I asked these question of a dealer sent via a e-mail and have not received a reply as of yet.

Thank you for your replies.
stiltskin
thom_at_galibier_design's avatar
thom_at_galibier_design
729 posts
 
Hi 04rdking,

Looking at the specs for the 309 on SME's website:

Effective Length: 232.2
Pivot-Spindle: 213.4
Offset angle: unspecified

From John Ellison's great spreadsheet (free stuff on Enjoy the Music website ... also linked to from my support page):

Baerwaald predicts (for 232.2 effective length)

Effective Length: 232.2
Pivot-Spindle: 214.33
Offset angle: 23.73 degrees

Loefgren predicts:

Effective Length: 232.2
Pivot-Spindle: 213.83
Offset angle: 23.73 degrees

So, assuming your cartridge (stylus position) is consistent with SME's ideal, then your effective length is indeed 232.2. You might try fiddling with the pivot to spindle distance (increasing by about .9mm for Baerwaald and .4mm for Loefgren) to get to Baerwaald and Loefgren approximations.

Perhaps you can lay a piece of masking tape on the base to measure this small change.

If the overall distortion level drops, you can always drop a few coins on either the van den Hul protractor or the TT Basiscs one.

Yip (Mintlp) and I have been positing (not yet verified) that tracing the arc (getting pivot to spindle and effective length right) is more critical than the offset angle.

You certainly won't ruin any records doing this.

Cheers,
Thom
narrod
1,064 posts
 
The Ken Willis protractor has provisions for all three geometries (sp?). Right now I have my Audioquest PT-6/Denon DL-160 set up for Stevenson feeling it sounds better than Baerwald. I have not tried Lofgren. I echo the positive comments about this thread. It's the epitome of information sharing without the messianic tone of trying to convert posters as so many threads seem to do.
04rdking's avatar
04rdking
178 posts
 
Thom,
The Series III is a totally different critter than the 309. The specs for the Series III are:

pivot - stylus: 229.0
bedplate center - spindle: 215.4
offset: not specified

Narrod,
Can you give me Ken's contact info?
thom_at_galibier_design's avatar
thom_at_galibier_design
729 posts
 
Ah ... you're talking about the vintage, 3009 then? The same analysis would apply.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier
mjglo
127 posts
 
OK, I see I had the wrong number (233.15) as the pivot to spindle for the SME Iv.vi, it's actually 215.35, 233.15 is the effective length suggested by SME. I got the calipers out and find my cartridge stylus looks exactly at or very close to this effective length. I just contacted Ken Willis for a protractor based on these numbers. Now I can see if the SME gauge is close.
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