Turntable owners: do you cue by hand?

This is to those of you still spinnin' vinyl. Do you cue LPs entirely by hand or do you use the cue lever (if your arm has one)?

I used to use the cue lever, but lately I must admit to having found a certain perverse enjoyment in actually laying needle to the plastic with my own bare hands.

So what do YOU do?

 

I normally use the cue lever.

 

I've just posted the poll and there are two posts in it already?!? I was still working on the options!

 

I always use the cue lever to lift the arm OFF the LP.

But for placing the arm on the LP, I almost always use the caveman method. That high tech cue lever just takes so long to drop...

I generally don't like to start playing an LP from any track except track one on either side. I am always afraid that I will create a tiny scratch by dropping the needle in the groove. Of course, if I just have to hear the third track on side one of a certain LP, I try to drop a few seconds from the end of track two so that if I do any minor damage, I will most likely not be able to hear it!

I know, I know... But I can't help it!!

 

I most often do it by hand because it is faster and I feel after all of these years I can do it just as gently as with the cuing lever (and sometimes more gently as I used to use a turntable with a non-damping cueing lever which I frequently forgot about and slammed the needle down on the record. Ouch! )

 

I just do the "lift and drop" method myself. And the V15V has the stabilizer down, so even if I do a fumble, there's no real shock involved. Very occasionally the cueing lever. But as Steve mentioned, I also spun a lot of records: while I wasn't in radio, my early vinyl collecting years involved a LOT of 12" singles, and up until I moved out of my folks' house, I was spinning records three or four hours a night, and even with LPs, just picking out the tracks I wanted to hear.

 

I always use the lever. What can I say, I just don't trust myself!

 

Probably 50/50 for me. I've been spinning records since I was a child in the '50s, and most of the old 'record players' were manual affairs anyway, so I got used to doing my own eyeball cueing.

These days, I'll use the cueing lever about half the time. It just depends on my mood, I guess, and perhaps which record it is. I'm likely to be more careful with a rare or valuable record than I would be playing a track from a common and less pristine album.

Like Steve, though, I almost always use the cueing lever to lift the tone arm OFF of the record.

 

Hah! I had one that did that also- SLAM . My speakers must have loved me for using it, I'm sure.

 

The day will come when you do, Grasshopper .

Me too.. most of the time .

 

Sometimes I use the cue lever and sometimes I don't. I mostly use it to take the stylus off of the record.

 

I use the cue lever. I've ruined to many rekkids by dropping the tonearm into the groove.

Sean

 

I may use the lever to drop the stylus at the start of a record but rarely to select a specific track from a side. I generally use the lever to lift the stylus up after playing, though.

Cheers,
Chris

 

100 % lever for on and off.

 

I always cue by hand, but taking the stylus off the record is around 50/50 by hand and via the cueing lever. Why should this be? Can I not make up my mid? Do I suffer from a lack of committment? Shuld I see a shrink about this?

Audio Technica OC9 (lately), bolted to a Rega RB300, mounted on a slightly tweaked Thorens TD150 mk2.

 

OK, who punched in the 'Zen master' thing?

 

I picked Zen master, partly in jest, but my arm (ET-II) has no finger lift, an air bearing (essentially zero friction), and a cue lever without damping--it's just an eccentric rod. It takes some getting used to; I've read a number of posts from new owners of this arm who keep slamming the needle down until they get the hang of it.

John K.

 

Like most of us, I usually cue by hand as it is quicker and accurate, but I usually use the cueing to remove the stylus, but not always. And it depends on my mood. If I've had a few, or if I'm tired, I'll often opt for the cueing lever.

 

Cue by hand, but I should use the lever.

 

I cue by hand if I'm starting with track #1, but almost always use the cue lever to start elsewhere on the recordand to take it off.

 

I always used to use the cue lever, but I've gotten good at doing it without it, so probably for the last 1 1/2 years I usually do it by hand. Even though I hardly use it anymore, I wouldn't want an arm without a cue lever.

IMO the trick to doing this manually and not damaging the record or the cantilever is to make sure you're only using your index finger on the finger lift immediately before putting it on the record or just as you're lifting the arm off the record. In my experience, the thumb can make you not lift the arm straight up while removing the arm off the record, or may put undue pressure on the cantilever while lowering it. When lifting, I only use my thumb along with my index finger after I know the needle is not on the record, and when lowering I make sure I remove my thumb before I feel that I'm going to make contact with the record. If my hand feels shakey or something at that moment, I'll likely still use the cueing lever. But maybe this only works for me and may not for you, so don't blame me if you scratch up your records by doing this.

 

I have to do it by hand, both going on the record and coming off. My AR turntable has no cue lever.

Thank God I've got a slow, rock-steady hand to do it with.

 

I always use the cue lever. The only time I use my hand is when I am playing 7 inch records. I never miss with the cue lever, so I have no reason not to use it.

 

100% manual cueing.

No choice really when you're using a Well Tempered.
In 16 years with this table I have never wiped out a cartridge.



Zen master here, minus the $10k cartridge.