Eminent Technology ET-2 Tonearm Owners

VPI's HUM PROBLEM
Before I get started, so that no one's manhood be offended, please recognize this as HUMOR.

That said, here I stand thoroughly embarrassed and disapointed.  Embarrassed that after 50 years in this hobby I still don't seem to be able to correctly connect wires to my cartridge.  Disapointed in that none of you geniuses thought to suggest I check to see if my hum was caused by connecting the right ground wire to the left pin on my VDH and vice versa.  In your defense you probably thought that since I had been in this hobby since before many of you were borne I'd know how to wire a cartridge.  In my defense, Bruce's color coding doesn't match my VDH.

Today, the super, duper, triple shielded phono interconnects arrived. Obviously they did not remove the hum.  A light went off.  I checked and reversed the ground connections to the cartridge and, poof, hum gone.  Amazing how good a VDH Black Beauty sounds when properly hooked up.

In all seriousness I do appreciate all your suggestions.
Harry

The great swiss writer and dramaturg Friedrich Dürrenmatt once said (ca.) that today (in the 20th century) there is no way to write dramas. Anything is a comedy. And the greatest comedy of all is reality.I like this sort of fun. And similar things happened to me too.
It's more fun to laugh than to cry (if possible...)

^^^
Well imo, there is nothing funny about a bad ground; whether it is caused by an incorrect connection, and/or a bad connection. The later bad connection (gradually deteriorating) is one of the main reasons boat trailer lights stop working. In and out of the water, many forget to unplug the connection to the vehicle when launching a boat. Everyone with a boat trailer has done it at one time or another.  

This vinyl hobby for those that use different cartridges entails a lot of unplugging, replacing cartridge, and reconnecting. The four leads going to the cartridge is just asking for trouble. Making sure each lead is "tight-on" is important. I make the connections first, then I bolt on the cart. 

I only see one solution (or is it a soulution?): A Lyra Delos in P-mount T4P-norm.
Jonathan, are you listening?
Actually it's not a total joke. I admit that the concept of setting tracking force by standardized brutto P-mount cartridge weight-actual cartridge weight is too restrictive to design high quality cartridges.
But a standardized electrical/mechanical connection eliminates in many cases a few crimp and / or solder contacts. Besides eliminating the hassle of fiddling with cartridge clips and their solder connections, and eliminating the possibility of swapped ground or signal connections. 

Glad you figured it out, VPI.  However, I am perplexed by a couple of things; and not meaning to add to any disappointment 🙃

**** Bruce's color coding doesn't match my VDH. ****

Huh!?  Red/Green, White/Blue; no?   I do know that the Blue on my VDH’s has been unusually dark.  

Seems to me that a tiny bit of hum would be the least of the issues caused by reversing the two ground wires.  Did you hear any other distortions or phase issues?