I have a very old original manufacture Dennesen Protractor. If I need to locate the pivot of a tonearm I want to mount, I take a piece of clean white paper and make two pen marks on it, at a distance from one to the other that is equal to the desired P2S distance. Then I set the spindle hole of the Dennesen centered on one of the two dots and line up the vertical steel pointer at the other end of the Dennesen with dot number 2. Then I lock in the Dennesen at this distance. I then place the Dennesen over the tt spindle, and the vertical steel pointer tells me where the tonearm pivot point needs to be. So, I recommend a Dennesen or Dennesen type protractor to kill 2 birds with one stone, as they say. (Because once you've mounted the tonearm, you can use the Dennesen again to set pivot to stylus distance.) Dertonearm offers an accessory attachment to his protractor, exclusively for setting P2S, but it costs several hundred dollars over and above the cost of the protractor.
Tool for measuring pivot to spindle distance?
My new cartridge is on its way. I am making sure I have all the necessary tools for setting up the tonearm and cartridge, and realized that I don't have a decent tool for measuring the pivot to spindle distance for the tonearm. All I have is a plastic ruler with mm measurements - not ideal to say the least!
I would love to get something like the Clearaudio Protractor or the Dennisen/Nerve Audio Protractors, but such tools are beyond my budget. Is there a less expensive alternative? For example, would a set of 12" digital calipers (with mm readings of course)work?
I see some calipers costing around $35 - great price - are they accurate enough at that price point? No doubt most of these are made in China, which may or may not be a problem.
My budget is not much - less than $50 would be ideal. Any advice would be appreciated.
Holly
I would love to get something like the Clearaudio Protractor or the Dennisen/Nerve Audio Protractors, but such tools are beyond my budget. Is there a less expensive alternative? For example, would a set of 12" digital calipers (with mm readings of course)work?
I see some calipers costing around $35 - great price - are they accurate enough at that price point? No doubt most of these are made in China, which may or may not be a problem.
My budget is not much - less than $50 would be ideal. Any advice would be appreciated.
Holly