Rock Ola 470 makeshift tonearm counterbalance?

Hi all,

I recently purchased my Uncle's Rockola 470 at auction. I have done a few tweaks to it and have it working relatively well, no small thanks due to the forums here that I browsed for quite some time. I would like, at this point, to put a new cartridge in and play some of the more expensive 45's I have been gathering over time without worrying about overly damaging them. The tone arm adjustments are pretty rudimentary, consisting of a spring attached to different nodes along the underside of the tone arm to change down-force.
I would like to have more control over the needle pressure and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for rigging some sort of adjustable counter-weight. I would be obliged for any assistance.

Eli

Eli, I suggest reading this series of posts from last year on this subject:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6578

Adam did an excellent job and took good pic's.

IMO, it is very worthwhile in that it vastly improves sound and tracking. I did this on several mid-sixties R-O's and with careful setup, the arm w are among the best in that industry.

I do suggest using styli designed for changer service and not going lower than 2 gram VTF

Rob/NYC

Hi Rob,

Thank you very much for directing me to the previous posts. I have a new project now.

Obliged,

Eli