Stylus Pressure Gauge AND Damage to Stylus?

One more thing. I have noticed that when I place the Gauge on a record instead of the platter mat, the VTF reading on the gauge is much more higher. (ie. on the mat the reading is 1.5 grams, on the record the reading is 2.5 grams, then if I place it on the platter without the mat the reading is much lower roughly around 1 gram). What do you think?

P.S - The Shure instructions read "for better stability, place the gauge on a record"

Thanks,
Frustrated.

TWL, well put. Sometimes us "Vinyl Heads"
need a kick in the &@%

-Marcus

I'd say quit worrying about it and play some music.
Find a VTF you like and go with it.

Basement, its not that it doesn't float in the same spot everytime.

Every time I JUST place the Stylus on the lever I get my desired reading. If I were to touch the tonearm a little and make the tonearm and lever bob up and down with eachother, it then settles on a slightly higher reading (more downforce on the tonearm).

I maybe would say the more accurate method would be to JUST place the stylus on the lever without causing bobing because maybe the Gauge has friction on it and cannot lift the tonearm back up. What do you all think?

TWL, my cartridge is a MM. Did I do something wrong?

I use the sfg-2 and I have not found any accuracy problems like you describe, except to say that when mine was behaving this way, it showed me that the spring was binding on my rb-300. I would say that if it isn't floating in the same spot every time, that there is friction (or resistance) somewhere. Evan with my immedia arm which has a lot of damping, mine always ends up in the same spot, it just does it ssloowwww. And since I have this arm, naturally I have to use it often. I always give it a soft careful tap just to be sure.
As far as extra wear on the stylas, I am not qualified to say, but I prefer to use it with the sound on, so I can 'hear' the friction. What I think I hear is that there is a big difference between a stylas running across a dirty groove with some speed and sitting on metal with hardly any velocity.
Here is one more thing to consider; TWL makes the point to be careful not to hook the stylas. I think that it is important to use the gauge perpendicular to the arm so as the stylas flexes as pressure is applied, it can slide in the groove rather than push against it.

Marcus,
Is your cartridge a mm or mc?

Twl,
I have been wondering if using a metal stylus force gauge is something of a no-no. Isn't the metal a ferrous one? I don't use one, but just curious.

When I place my stylus on the lever I get one reading then if i were to press or blow the lever down a little bit with the stylus still sitting in the same spot, the gauge balances differently then if I were to just place the stylus there without touching it. I have the Shure SFG-2 model. Any opinions?

-Marcus

No, don't worry about it. Just be as careful as you can, and if it slides around a little, then that's the way it goes. I have done alot of cartridge alignments, and VTF adjustments with scales, and never had any cartridge damage.
The major concern is "hooking" the stylus from the side, and ripping it off, or bending the cantilever. This is bad. Just a little sliding around on top of the VTF scale is not going to hurt anything.