DIY Tonearm

Joshua, does that cartridge mode only required for unipivot arm? I expect it to provide horizontal stability, may not be for 2 bearing tonearms.

It's main aim is to provide rigidity to the plastic body of the cartridge. In the original van Alstine article it recommends use of epoxy to firmly glue the Longhorn to the cartridge body, as close as possible to the cantilever. Epoxy cures as a rigid plastic and helps to make the cartridge body more rigid and therefore reduce cartridge body vibration. At least that's how I've understood it. I could be totally wrong here.

The wings additionally provide lateral stabilisation.

For unipivot arms, I think a better place to place stabilising wings would be at the arm pivot, if possible a bit below the CoG. My arm is quite stable, but I've been thinking of trying stabilising wings to see if it brings improvement.
 
Joshua, do you really need anti skating for a 12" arm?

It can work without too, especially if the arm has higher mass and can overcome the bias force. I have been using my arm without it and I know from experience that it works.

After changing the arm tube wiring to something a bit less flexible, I thought it is a good idea to have anti skate in case it is needed. Balancing the skating force is supposed to produce better left-right sound staging, as the stylus exerts a more equal force on the left and right walls of the record groove. Otherwise, if we were to leave the skating force as it is, the stylus will have lesser contact with one wall of the record groove. Result is left channel will be stronger than right channel. Also groove wear will be unequal.

So I'd suggest you to try it, especially for the unipivot. If you correctly implement the Schroeder, the string which suspends the arm has facility for dialing in anti skating force.
 
Yes, Schroeder already has an easy option to induce skating force.

I am yet to fix the whole thing. I have my bases, wires, arms, counterweight. It is now the weighing, balancing and installation part.

I will be living in Thane (Mumbai) from this Sunday onwards, will start things as soon as I get settled.
 
Great. 5 years is a long time. The DIY community of Mumbai just got stronger with your arrival:)
 
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