How old is the Glider, was it the original? Must be pretty old if it had an elliptical stylus, could be that the suspension is gone, old MC cartridges really need to be rebuilt, not just retipped. Does the cantilever move quite a bit to the side when lowered into the lead-in groove, like it's kind of loose, or does it stay straight?
It's the original Glider. I believe I purchased it with a VPI HW-19 Jr with Audioquest PT 6 tonearm and the Glider. All came as a package deal. I got it new somewhere in the late '90's. Don't remember exactly what year. To answer your question about the cantilever movement I would have to say that it does move to the side when lowered in the lead-in groove but only slightly. It doesn't seem extreme considering that it's a fairly long cantilever. I will take a closer look with a magnifier to get a better gauge on the amount of movement. I'm tempted to mount it back on the old Rega/Rega RB-300 combo to see if it behaves the same way but I'm avoiding doing that because I don't have that table set up right now.
The Glider went through about 4 iterations, I think. There was the original medium or high output elliptical in the 90s, very popular. Then the low output version 2 was added sometime around 2000. Then the move to line contact with stylus from Fritz Gyger. And then, when Gyger weren't able to maintain quality control, the move to Namiki MicroRidge around 2009. Each of the changes came with other improvements as well, so the newer models are far advanced from the original. Anyway, good luck with the Glider.
I looked at the cantilever closely with a strong magnifier while setting it down in the lead-in groove and didn't notice much deflection at all. Very little anyway. Thanks for the help. It seems to track records pretty well. My original question was if the KAB Fluid Damper would help with this situation or other anomalies with other cartridges I may obtain in the future? I don't think there's anything wrong with the A/S adjustment because it seems to work normally with other cartridges.
Fluid dampers are going to apply dynamic resistance to any tonearm movement, so I would expect it to help the situation you have described, though paddle is designed mostly for vertical damping, there will still be some horizontal damping too. Sometimes helps to clean the cueing lever area that contacts the tonearm so it grips better, too. Just depends on cartridge compliance and tonearm mass to a certain extent. And the Glider stylus may be making groove contact a bit sooner than the other cartridges.
To anyone who cares, When I first installed the Glider on the Technics, I used the Technics overhang gauge which put the cartridge at the back end of the headshell. I thought it looked odd but that's where the overhang is using the gauge. Then I used the HiFi News alignment tool to fine tune it. It looked dead on. After some more research I came across a thread on this forum about something similar. It appears that the overhang on the Technics tonearm is not the same as Baerwald or Stevenson alignment protocols. I decided that instead of using the overhang gauge to use my dbSystems cartridge alignment tool instead. Now, the cartridge is set about 3 mm forward of where it was and slightly toed-in. It is dead on at both inner and outer grids of the alignment tool. This arrangement appears more normal that before. The A/S is now behaving more normal. I actually have it set less than the VTF setting of 1.9g . The A/S dial is now set at 1.7. The Glider is not the greatest tracker when using test tracks but while playing music I haven't noticed any distortion outside or inside. So, I guess this is as good as it's going to get. I would like to try a different headshell with this cartridge in the future.
I have had the fluid damper on my 1200GR for a couple of weeks now. Hard to explain the sonic benefits as I've also upgraded tubes in my phono stage and intalled a new cartride. At a minimum it makes the turntable feel much more solid when handling the tonearm. No bouncing around. Feels like an expensive tonearm akin to turning the tuning dial on a vintage tuner. Very satisfied!
Giving serious consideration to getting the damper rig on my 1200 but am hesitant because I recently installed the Disco Fwend tonearm lift. I really wish I could run both simultaneously but that is not an option, so I'm trying to determine which is the better option. Really hard to put into words how nice is it for the tonearm to lift at the end of a side; is the fluid damper an incredible enough upgrade to replace the lift?
As long as you’re not falling asleep while the vinyl is playing, you can stop it manually instead of using the Disco Fwend. But there’s no alternative for a liquid tonearm damper that provides dynamic damping. So I’d say that the damper is a more valuable mod. The TD-1000 is made for the new gen 1200 turntables. You need the TD-1200 for the 1200mk2.
Why don't you make a DIY fluid damper, to see if you like the results? I made one out of wire, shoved into the hole at the end of my SL-D2 arm, and into a plastic packaging trough behind the turntable. I cut some paddles out of a white plastic tofu container, and added 5/30 motor oil into the trough. Even this makes a fairly big difference. I imagine the one from KAB would make a much bigger improvement (imaging/steadiness, detail, tracking). Just a low budget suggestion for COVID times.
I’m not sure of the viscosity of the fluid that comes with the KAB, but its super thick. Way thicker than 80W90 gear oil.
In theory, I could. Finances aren't really the issue here, though. It is space on the tonearm to accommodate both the Disco Fwend and the KAB Damper; i.e. there isn't enough for both
I'm wondering how much (and what kinds of) difference the various viscosities make? To my ears even motor oil makes a difference (but I haven't done a blind test, nor measured the resonant frequencies. I will have to do that soon).
I have another turntable where when you would use the wiring lever, it dropped the tonearm like a rock. So I added some silicone to the lever mechanism. Well, I decided to select 500k cst. Not only did it fixe the problem, you have the added bonus of being able to drop the lever, go make some coffee, come back get comfy, and the music should be starting. So I’m thinking 500k cst is probably not a good idea for damping fluid
I was very interested to read this because I too have a technics 1200gr and a v15 (iii) however mine is a new old stock vn35mr micro-ridge stylus. They're not the best trackers in the world and do skip on some records. I too have mine on a bit higher than recommended, 1.5g. I don't have the dampener on my arm and being in the uk am unsure how easy it is to get and how much I'd be screwed by customs, but your comment has made me pause for thought. Are you using the standard gr arm? I love the shure v15 (iii) mostly for classical music. I'm glad someone else is using one on this arm! and may even try adding a bit more weight next time I come across a skipping groove.
Yes, but I found that the result vary heavily depending on the cartridge. For example, at first I thought that it provided improvement with Concorde cartridges. But after some critical listening and measurements I discovered that there wasn’t a significant change. However, with the 2M Black and Benz Micro Glider SL and even a cheap AT95E I noticed an improvement in low frequency reproduction and tracking ability. I think it has mostly to do with how heavy the cartridge is and its compliance.
