Is there a best cartridge track force gauge?

Some of the Shure scales have a steel arm, while others, like mine, have aluminum. I simply cannot believe that Shure ever made such a mistake, but they did. Find another one if you plan to keep using a Shure gauge.

As an aside, I've compared the Shure to my digital scale and it is very accurate. But, the "repeatability" factor as accomplished by the digital is one that cannot be beaten by the Shure. Otherwise, they are about a wash and you should always do a final fine tune by ear anyway.

Tbg, I am not CERTAIN that my Shure is aluminum, I suppose. Someone said that those that aren't steel are aluminum, maybe nickel-plated. All I know is that mine is not magnetic while one that a friend once owned was magentic. In any event, this is a serious flaw in some of those scales and one would be wise to ensure that any they were interested in buying (ie used) was not magnetic. Otherwise, they work great.