VTF gauge

This is all you need
the height is just like a record (use that stylus platform for VTF).
on top of the gauge you can weight something else

remove the batteries if you don't use the gauge

03-07-2020 3:00amThe Shure stylus force gauge is a plastic and metal teeter-totter.... that the carefully used is about as accurate as any digital gauge, only it costs a lot less and relies on gravity which I'm told is more reliable long term than batteries.

Absolutely agree with the old reliable Shure.  My digital project is reliable as well but eats batteries all of the sudden.

Unfortunately, the Shure is no longer accurate enough. Most cartridges now come with a specific recommended tracking force which put the cantilever in the optimum position. The recommended VTF in many cases comes down to hundredths of a gram certainly tenths. An accurate counter balance scale would be impractical. An accurate digital gauge can let you dial it right in. I would be worried about the Riverstone gauge. It is very inexpensive. I would use some calibrated weights to check it's accuracy. The best gauges are 75 to 100 dollars. Even so I always take a calibrated 2 gram weight to check the gauges accuracy every time I use it.  These are a whopping 6 dollars!    https://www.amazon.com/Hestya-Calibration-Digital-Balance-Tweezer/dp/B078Q3JZY7?ref_=s9_apbd_otopr_hd_bw_b5Reiup&pf_rd_r=3MSYHZRTRFQWRVR5CDBC&pf_rd_p=37e1cdac-2bef-5b2f-9157-f1a14bd6

The Shure SFG was for decades all we had available. In that regard, surely it is an audio classic. You may want to put it in some sort of Hall of Fame. That would be OK with me. However, now we have inexpensive digital stylus force gauges that are miles ahead in every conceivable way. The Riverstone is even cheaper than the Shure, so the Shure loses its one remaining virtue-low cost. Besides the Riverstone, there are a myriad of other good choices that also place the weigh pan roughly at the level of the surface of a typical LP, which IS important, IMO. Any decent digital scale is going to be more accurate than the Shure and provide much more repeatable results. One other thing to be aware of: some weigh pans on some of these scales are faintly magnetic. This property will not go well with a low output moving coil cartridge that has a very strong magnet structure. In this regard, I don’t know about the Riverstone. I use an Ortofon DS3.

By the way, the Shure SFG is among those scales that are faintly magnetic. I own two of them and both misbehave with LOMC cartridges.