for those who play vinyl...do you tape a coin to the arm of your record player?

I've been out of playing vinyl since '83, but when I was a kid I used to tape a penny or nickle (never a dime) to the record player arm, to weigh it down to keep records from skipping...every kid I knew did the same, common practice I assume...do you still do that? it seems very primitive now, to think about doing that...did you ever do it, still do it, or never needed to, or use another method? discuss...

 

Please don't do this. You'd much rather track your records too lightly than too heavily. Best yet, get a tracking force gauge and dial in a nice 1-and-a-half-gram weight. I assume your tonearm has this adjustment feature?

 

I did this once along time ago to get gunk out of my records.I would place a dime on it and then reverse spin the record to kind of "dig" out the dirt spec.

I was an idiot

 

Never! Most decent turntable arms have adjustments for weight, and if you have to add more weight to that for the stylus to track, you'd probably be better off replacing the record.

 

good, I'm learning....remember, though, I personally don't play vinyl anymore and don't really know about Record Players now (if I ever really did), so keep posting, I'm digging the responses

 

in fact my memory was jogged from the arm weight response...I do recall a record player arm having a little adjustment, 2 different weights...I thought taping a coin would be crazy for a Forum Member, but I'm so far removed from playing vinyl I simply am ignorant

 

This is almost too funny of a question to answer seriously, but I will.

No, I never have, and never will.

 

My mother used to own a record player that was luggage-type and I clearly remember playing my children' records placing a coin at the top of the tone arm. It was supposed to be good but back then I didn't have a clue about record-caring.

 

Yes, and I will only do it so rare, virgin vinyl records can track better. Good idea. A long lost art, when music WAS better....

 

If your rig is any good there's never a need, and that's good since doing so, and using the gear that might ever need it, is destructive to records. Playing records like that "wears out" records. But clean records played on a good player, well adjusted with a stylus that isn't worn out, don't wear out.

 

...a roll of quarters works well.

 

I like the half dollar rolls as they are smaller but pretty heavy!

 

yea, but the overhang throws off the speed...

 

Weirdly, yes I have recently done this. I installed a new cart for a friend. His TT was a Pro-ject RPM 5. Fitted onto the tone arm was the 'heavy' weight. When I put the new cart on we couldn't get the arm to balance..the cart was too light.The weight wound all the way up to the pivot point and it still tipped the arm. Because he had friends coming over for dinner and wanted to play some vinyl I had to concoct a solution. I used double-sided tape to place a 5 cent piece over the headshell. Then I got a balance on the arm and was able to wind in the correct weight for the cart. It worked fine. But it looked bloody ugly! A couple of days later I fitted a different cart and changed the weight on the tonearm. No harm done..

 

Yes my LP12/Ekos normally has a 5p sellotaped to it, I've found they sound
better than 2p.

 

A pound coin for the really caned vinyl

 

In your pocket maybe

 

I have done this actually when I first got back into vinyl and had a cheap turntable and similar records.

BUT ....... I taped the coins to the counterweight side of the arm to get the needle to track lighter. Took two quarters and a nickel! Worked well though.

Tone

 

Haven't done this for a long time but can't recommend the practise.

One thing I did do as a kid was place a couple of small coins on the lable area of the Lyndisc 'flexi-sound' records you got attached to pop magazines or with childrens games back in the day, to hold the flimsy things down.

Regards,

 

American readers might not realise that the 5p coin is about the same size as a dime. I use one on my Linn as well, but some records simply sound better with TWO 5 pence pieces attached to the headshell. In some cases, with more flimsy records or those which are warped or which have heavy bass response, it is necessary to add a third coin, the much heavier 2 pence piece.

As you can imagine, with an extensive vinyl collection such as mine, one tends to forget which combination works best, so I have devised a simple solution - after I decide which combination suits me, I write the total value of the coins across the front of the LP cover in large lettering with a black felt tip marker - '5p', '7p', '10p', '12p', and I have a couple of '14p' albums (two of each coin held to the headshell with standard issue Post Office elastic bands).

Of course, I never tire of friends commenting, when listening to my collection and seeing the large black lettering across the sleeve, 'Is that all you paid for this?'. The truth is, I got no such bargain, and the album will have cost me a great deal more!

 

When I was 7 years old. Not now.

 

Only once, on an otherwise clean record that skipped in one location (locked into a continous loop). Tilted the turntable so the tonearm would tend to swing into the centre, balanced a 2p coin on the tonearm and very carefully and slowly moved the record back and forth over the point where it skipped a few times. Worked and that record plays flawlessly now

 

Houston, we have a problem...

My arm only excepts Paypal.

 

I used to, but then I found this lovely marble paperweight which works much better..