belt ? or Dental Floss for turntable

Well, first it depends upon your specific pulley design. I was once a fan of thread on my VPIs. I still want to try Mark Baker’s flat belt with my HRX pulley?

The problem with thread is slippage. There’s no way (around) it. Especially with VPI tts. The SDS/ADS are nice units but they aren’t capable of adjusting for real-time speed fluctuations.

I've been using #2 silk bead thread for several years on a VPI TNT with flywheel.  Instead of tying a knot, I switched to gluing the ends together. The glue I used is called Liquid stitch.  I made a jig by putting two nails in a board, loop the thread over the nails and then wrap the tag ends around each other and secure it with clothespins.  Then I apply glue (not much) to the area where the ends are looped together.  Once it dries I cut the tag ends off with a razor blade. I made two belts of the exact same length and have been using them as a double run for about 6 months.  There is a slight bump as the glue joint goes over the pulley, but over time the glue joint "rounds out" somewhat.  One advantage over tying a knot is that you can set you length more exactly.  It's much harder to  tie a weaver's knot or double uni knot and hit an exact length.

Because there is no issue too silly for us audiophiles to take seriously. In so saying, I include myself.

Exactly. An April Fool's thread that has taken on a life of its own.

Lewm

I have seen whole threads devoted to how to tie a particular kind of knot that causes fewer problems than some other kind of knot.

There are threads for every audiophile problem.

You run the knot on the outside. The key is the tension and this changes with the material used, and the type of platter/bearing/plinth. .

A) There are tables designed for thread, and people use them with belts.
B) There are tables designed for belt, and people use them with thread.

Its not hard to imagine the results.

But since the OP owns a technics sl1600 I don’t think he really cares.

The problem with floss or any other string drive belt is the knot. Belt drive aficionados apparently believe that the knot creates problems as it passes over the pulley or the circumference of the platter. I have seen whole threads devoted to how to tie a particular kind of knot that causes fewer problems than some other kind of knot. There is no pun intended, when I use the word thread. And it is no longer April 1. 

Or a silk thread.
Or a silk thread sprayed with adhesive.

April Fool’s.

Nice try. Except, Teres turntables (and probably others) did indeed use dental floss for a while. They also tried tape recorder tape, which is actually made to not stretch so good idea, except it requires the platter and motor be perfectly flat and parallel.

This was like 15 years ago at least. The Basis table I had back then used a rubber belt, easy enough to try dental floss, and I did. Improved detail and dynamics.

Look close you will see the dental floss. http://www.theanalogdept.com/images/spp6_pics/C_miller_web/Miller_carbon_5.jpg
I don't use it any more, Teres Verus motor replaced this, but I was running floss a while and you can see the level of the rig not exactly entry level. http://www.theanalogdept.com/c_miller.htm

April Fool’s around here is tough. To find something crazy enough to be funny without having a serious answer you really have to work at it. Better luck next time.

When I bought my TT from Lloyd Walker 23 years ago it came with several homebrew dental floss belts and they worked just fine. Then I got wind of belts being made of a silk like ribbon material and I tried that. Sonically, I find them interchangeable with no audible differences.

Cinnamon and peppermint flavors will impart different characters to the sound.

What turntable?
You need a motor design that is physically separate from the plinth to adjust tension, and a speed controller.  

The best way to find out is try it for yourself. I ran some #2 bead cord thread on my hot rodded VPI HW 19 MkIV years ago. It really opened that table up. I think speed stability suffered in my particular application though.

Sounds like a stupid idea unless your turnable has tarter.