antiskate disc

@jw944ts 

l can’t answer the debate on blank test records, but what you observe with scratching the surface when using one is quite normal.

Even if you are tracking at 1 - 2 grams will leave traces from the stylus on the virgin flat vinyl. Don’t listen to any nonsense about your tracking weight being wrong. @cleeds “That sounds unlikely” “What the heck are you using for VTF?” is misinforming you. A stylus never tracks the absolute bottom of the groove. It rides on the modulations on each side of the groove. The tracking force is spread over a wider area of the stylus profile, and not to the tip of the stylus when playing a record.

The reason you have noticed (and quite correctly) the scarring on the test record is because the full tracking force is applied to the tip of the stylus. No force is imparted to the sides of a groove as there is non present. Anyone who has ever had a test record with a test band for bias (anti-skate) adjustment can tell you marks are left after playing.

l would suggest using the test band to get a rough average setting. Then use the advice given by @lewm to fine tune your arm and cartridge. Different stylus profiles can change the results you will get with your test record, so use your ears for the minute tweaks.

@cleeds 

A stylus imitates a cutting head. Why would it not try to cut a groove on a blank test disc?  Please read again carefully my reply to @jw944ts about how a stylus tracks a groove. Don’t suggest he is carving up his records…. “If true, it would render most LPs unplayable” Your words

“What is the size of your test study?” Your words to me. Please don’t make me laugh, admit you got a bit hot. Ask anyone with a Shure trackability obstacle course LP to have a look at their blank “anti-skate” test bands and come back to me.

Any neutrals out there wish to give cleeds a “pronouncement” with their findings to save him the bother?  It would greatly help increase “the sample size” of the “study”

@cleeds

The stylus when placed on a blank test band when rotating will imitate a stylus cutter. No amplification required. A cutter with no signal would produce a groove with no modulation, the same as the silent gaps between tracks. 
 

You initiated all this denial of any (quite normal) scarring made by a stylus as observed by the OP, and clearly visible on his test record. He clearly replied saying the tracking force was correct. Your suggestion that there should be a wide “study” to quantify this is plain bonkers. To further suggest my input was a “pronouncement” was purely an intended sarcastic and uncalled for remark. Giving also a “Hint” on something you have never experimented with or observed yourself is completely unfounded and unsound. You obviously can’t tolerate being corrected. 
 

Try the test yourself, and then criticise. If you don’t know anything for sure, l suggest politely to belt up.

@cleeds 

l have no problem, l am just reciprocating.

You have driven the discussion in this direction. I am purely responding each time you post, to put the record straight (so to speak)

@willy-t “Here’s what l do…”

You have thought of something alternate here.

Normally there are three ways of doing something.

1. The recognised right way

2. The wrong way

3. A new better way   Possibly your way? (and more accurate with a mono record?)

@dynacohum  VTF

Knowledge about record wear and antiskate.

The discussion about record wear you posted reminded me of the general opinions in the earlier days of Hi-Fi and when it was evolving. Shure and Goldring were always trying to lower the tracking force of their cartridges. The old mono high fidelity players tracked much heavier than the 1.25 grams these brands tried to achieve.

Record care was the name of the game when Stereo records were the way forward with lower noise levels demanded. Lower VTF also meant less chance of damaging the stereo records with narrower grooves.

The problem was literally a balancing act, how light or how heavy should the stylus track the groove. The consensus in the 60s and 70s was that it was better to track on the heavier side of the individual cartridge manufacturers specifications. Too light and the stylus surfed the grooves, and was insecure increasing record damage. Tracking heavier was deemed to increase stylus wear, but with more groove contact would result in less record wear or damage.

So l agree with your own findings. If a cartridge was quoted as say .75 - 1.5 grams with a nominal 1.25 recommended l always found the nominal was the accepted trade off (low v high). l myself found that increasing to 1.3 or 1.35 was audibly better for the Shure V15 series and Goldring’s G900 series.

To sum it up, better to have a stylus accurately tracking a groove as it is less likely to increase record wear. The antiskate setting was another argument, but was accepted as a crucial thing to get right so that the stylus tracked the centre line of the groove.