Which tonearm?

I think I may have one if you are interested, I'll have to check on what arm it is cut for. You need to look on Vinyl Engine to see what arms will fit, you can tell this by ones that have the same or very similar pivot to spindle distance. I can tell from experience that the Zeta and Ittok arms will fit the same board as the Rega. Jelco makes some nice arms at a reasonable price that should fit. If you went to a thicker platter you could get a spacer made from wood or plastic to raise the arm, or possibly one of the VTA adjustment accessories from VPI or Michell or others, adding washers under it would allow you to have the arm higher, in the old days arms often came with an assortment of washers for this purpose.

Ditto the Jelco. I've been playing around with a 750D for a little while and it performs quite well.

Just to provide an additional option, the Micro Seiki MA-505 seems quite good also, maybe a step up from the Jelco. The MS arm would require a different armboard since its geometry is different. Used 505s are around for about the price as a new Jelco.

Armboards for a HW-19 Mk 3 are quite easy to make. It's simply a 1/2" thick piece of acrylic, readily available in bulk. For a few bucks you can get a sheet of black 1/2" acrylic that will keep you in armboards far beyond the useful life of the turntable. Just cut, drill and polish. Poke around here as a source:

http://www.professionalplastics.com/PLEXIGLASS-ACRYLICSHEET-CAST

Good luck.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm in New York so I'm pretty sure getting an armboard made can't be too hard around here. If that were the case, are there directions on how to make an armboard fit a VPI tonearm for example?

Mofi: thanks for the website suggestion... that could be another route.

Just use your existing one as a template.

check out the TransFI terminator linear tracking air bearing arm. Just google Transfi Terminator. Also a couple of good reviews here on Agon. It was a significant upgrade from the fully modded RB 300 i was using. It will fit your armboard.