Advice/feedback needed on Morch UP4 setup

thank you gentlemen, I will proceed
wdt

I too have a Morch UP-4 Arm,and have been out of Analog as u have.When I tried to initially install the arm I had great difficulty getting use to its movement as well.I must have fiddled with the counter weights for 1 hour plus after I balanced the arm.I used the middle weight and small weight on my cartridge with my red dot arm wand,plus used the smallest for the VTF.The smallest one I
rotated one full turn to estimate .5 gram tracking force.
I'm soon going to buy an inexpensive VTF Gauge,since the one on the Morch seems very awkward.But as you lower arm down you can tell if azmith is close by seeing how
it rides in the groove.It is a delicate balancing act,since the last arm I had was plug and play a Sumiko FT-3 Arm.

Thanks 76doublebass,
I got a lot done last night. Learned a lot. I can't imagine doing what I did without a vtf scale, I bought a good digital one in preparation for this and can't imagine last night without it. Every time I was making an azimuth adjustment( and still need to fiddle further) I would change the weighting on the cart unknowingly. It's a dog chasing it's tail story for sure with all this. I have a blue precision arm and used all three weights. The sound is proving to be well worth it though, music sounds real again!

thx again,wd

Thanks for your input as well.What digital scale did you buy?I was wondering about this subject myself.
I still periodically check my azmith and fiddle with the counterweights,and don't have a digital scale yet.
So with your scale you were able to determine that the
VTF would change alot? If so I'm curious .How much would it be off?
I also have extra info on the set up of this arm that an audiophile supplied to me.I can quote some of the info he gave me.
"Since it is a unipivot,I think it is important to make sure
the table is level before any arm adjustments.
Dealing with the weights will seem odd at first ,but once you get used to the design,it all makes simple sense.
Remember: Azmith is everything! If azmith is not right,the arm will not be properly balanced.It takes a while to get this right,but,take your time and observe the cartridge while on a record,and,also as the cuing lowers it to the record.Their is a sonic benefit to using as much weight as possible,and locating it as close as possible to the arm body.Weight your cartridge and use the chart to determine which weight to use.I got the best sound by not using the small counterweight at all because it enabled me to use the 2 heaviest weights closer to the pivot.This is tricky though because when you move the weights to adjust tracking force,they may have screwed up the azmith because of the eccentric holes.For your initial setup,you probably will prefer to use the small counterweight to adjust tracking force.It is much easier:Twist the eccentric holed weight to adjust azmith,then slide the small counterweight to adjust tracking force.Morch talks about figuring the tracking the tracking force by counting how many dots the weight has passed,but that is so confusing and imprecise that I can't imagine setting it up without a stylus force guage.Also they never say a word about the fragility of the arm,but I think it is a good idea to grip the body gently and lift up slightly to disengage the bearing point while moving the weights or removing the arm tube."
I hope this hepls for you and others who may have a Morch Arm for setting up.
I will be getting a new used cartridge after the 1st of July
the Grado Reference Cartridge,with my VPI MK3 so I will be
starting the whole process all over again.Take care and Happy Listening
Don

I bought a Micro-Tech scale through Musicdirect for $160. It measures to 1/10th of a gram and it's platform for the stylus to rest on is low at platter height. Too expensive though, somebody somewhere is buying these things for ten bucks i bet. Anyway, you have to remember that I was setting up for the first time so all my azimuth guessing with the weights was first time, but I was amazed at the weight change by simply trying to rotate the smallest weight to correct azimuth, maybe .1-.2g change. I am still not comfortable with the azimuth or the vta. I ordered yesterday a bubble level tht is small enough to rest on the head shell, I hope this gets me comfortable with both values.

One thing that concerns me on azimuth is how the arm reacts "sometimes" when the lift is used. Often times the cart sways when you lift it off the album, sometimes not. This could be a function of the lift and it's pad on the lift arm being less than perfectly level.

I checked speed last night with the KAB strobo and it was running a little fast, but Amazon said to run at least 10 hours before adjusting. I am going to put the cart alignment piece I have on the platter tonight and check alignment at the two null points and also maybe put the test lp album I bought through it's test. I don't think I am anywhere close yet. Oddly enough the system did not sound as good last night. ugh!