09-19-2015, 12:00 PM
Hey there Squire - just a heads up when you do start working on your 51-1330 phono tone arm new cartridge. I made the mistake of creating the bracket in the tone arm such that the cartridge will be angled with the needle itself being lower that the rest of the cartridge. I was afraid the rest of the cartridge and needle flip lever would hit the record. However, this is wrong. I failed to consider that the tone arm itself is angled from where it pivots at the back of the phonograph. The end result I noticed was that with my angled cartridge and the pre existing natural angle of the tone arm, the needle was contacting the record at like a 40 degree angle. Although it sounds very good, I wonder if this would cause premature wear of the needle and/or grooves in the record. Therefore, I straightened out my little metal bracket so that the cartridge now sits level in the tone arm, and now that needle contacts the record at its normal angle. Live and learn - hope this helps when you get to yours. Cheers.