Vinyl Alignment Solution - anyone used this?

Wow - sounds interesting. I use Mint LP, so I suppose he caluculates this similarly then prints out the protractor for you. I use a fiber optic ear cleaning tool to get under the cart and see exactly where the stylus rests, which I suppose could be beneficial with the VAS as well.

I also use Mint LP on my Raven/Phantom. Yip I believe uses the standard Baer, Loef or Stevenson alignment methods - this seems to be different again. With our ability to move pivot to spindle & overhang, it would be interesting to play with non standard parameters.

Looking at the diagram on their web page, this looks to be a single arm length equivalent of the Feickert.

What an arc gives you over either this or the Feickert is the ability to magnify your view of the effective length/pivot-spindle combination - by swinging the stylus over the length of the arc. Smaller errors are more easily seen on an arc protractor.

Having said that, there are a few individuals who claim on this forum that they achieve an equal level of precision with a Feickert and an arc protractor like the MintLP.

I consider this more a testimony to their skill and fastidious approach than to the superiority of the Feickert over any arc protractor.

If pressed to make a recommendation, it would be for an arc protractor. If you're pressed for cash, someone posted a link a while back to a free Windows application to make your own arc protractor. It will get you most of the way to a MintLP. Buy card stock paper for your laser printer.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier