Skipping 78's

Recently I replaced the vintage Garrard I had been using for 78's with an Audio-Technica AT-LP120. I'm pretty impressed with the table, but I find that at the beginning of a lot of 78's, the cartridge wiggles alarmingly and often skips forward. It's definitely the fault of the records' condition, because it doesn't skip on really high quality ones, but it skips way more than the Garrard. I have found slight improvements by putting the tracking force at 5 grams (the maximum recommended for my Grado 78 cartridge, and 1 gram heavier than I was tracking on the Garrard) and by setting the anti-skate to 6. But I feel like there has to be a way to make it even better. Would putting weights on the headshell (but still keeping the tracking force at 5) make any difference? Do I need to be thinking about damping? (I have replaced the felt mat with a rubber one.)

I wonder if it IS the mass of the arm that's the issue, if you are actually tracking heavier with the AT TT. But if you want the AT's tonearm to have more mass, you would need to ad weight on the both ends of it, otherwise you might not be able to balance it before adjusting to a VTF of 5 grams.

There is one other alternative explanation I can think of, perhaps one that should be looked at before trying to beef up the AT tonearm---are their any differences in the characteristics of the different cartridges' needles between the two turntables? Could they be slightly different sizes? Or, if you're using the same cart & needle on the AT as you used on the Garrard, are you sure the cart is aligned the same way on the AT as it was on the Garrard? Also, is the VTA (vertical tracking angle) of the stylus the same on on the AT as what you had on the Garrard. If the cart is aligned differently and/or the VTA is different in the AT setup that could also affect tracking.

Remember that "drag" at the stylus/record contact point constitutes one of the components of skate/anti skate. Seems like "drag" would be different from one setup to the other and would need to be corrected for.

The 78 grado is notorious for skipping on worn records. Use it for e condition records only. Get another headshell and put either a Stanton 500 or a shure
M-44 with a cheap needle for your worn records.

Just curious what improvement might be expected by replacing a device that was designed with 78's in mind with a device that had to be recontrived to play 78's.

woodj said:

Just curious what improvement might be expected by replacing a device that was designed with 78's in mind with a device that had to be recontrived to play 78's.

Click to expand...

Yeah I agree with you in spirit, but the Garrard (a Type A) kept having things go wrong with it and needing work, and the most recent time I kinda broke it. So in replacing it, I wanted to go with something new so it'd be low maintenance--also something with sensitive speed controls and adjustable tonearm height!

I am indeed using the same cartridge and stylus transferred over. I'll start by playing some with the VTA--I set it so that it looked to the naked eye like the stylus was fairly perpendicular to an average 78 (as if such a thing exists), but it's pretty easy to try a few different settings. Then I'll start running down some of those other options.