Tonearm Setup Question

[thebes]

What is the purpose of cartridge "overhang"? Seems to vary between 15 and 18mm on most arms I've looked at.  Is it just to make sure the cart doesn't hit the spindle?

 

Inquiring minds want to know.

[glens]

The overhang works in specific conjunction with the length of the arm and the distance between the arm and platter pivots.  If the cart weren't "bent" in relation to the arm, there would be exactly one place on the record where the cart would be precisely perpendicular to the spiraling groove.  By having the "bend" in alignment you can now have two places of perfection.  The overhang determines where these two places occur, with ideally equal angle-to-groove misalignment maximums either direction.

 

Don't forget to set the anti-skating correctly as well.

[kevinmi]

What Glens said.

In simple terms, it optimizes the needle to be perpendicular to the record grooves

[thebes]

I think I get it.  Is that also why when you are using a protractor (Baerwald etc.) they have two areas in which you can align the cart?

 

Also, I hear you on anti-skating.  I'm a big fan of anti-skating and take great pains to apply it properly and then tweak when setting up a cart.

 

Hey Glens, whenever I see your name on a post I find myself thinking of a bucolic, pastoral valley where the birds are singing and I'm hiking along, enjoying the day with the sound of Minnie Ripperton's , "la, la, la, la in the background of my mind.