How to Remove Counterweight Technics

The tonearm is a delicately calibrated piece of kit; every component does a vital job.

At one end of your Technics tone arm sits the needle; the needle's counterweight is a squat little donut of machined alloy that controls the force with which the needle meets the vinyl and dictates whether you will wear out your discs in 10 plays or whether the needle will skip hopelessly to the center label.

Instructions

1. Remove the stylus and headshell from the tonearm. This is an advisable first step if you plan to be doing any work on the tonearm --- a turntable stylus is fragile and prone to breakage if sharply struck.

2. Rotate the counterweight so its thread moves it away from the stylus end of the tonearm. Depending on the particular model of your turntable, it may be one long thread that allows the counterweight to be screwed all the way to either end of the housing, or it may be in a number incremental "clicks" with a degree of rotary adjustment between each. Either way, move the counterweight as far back as possible.

3. Moving around the back of the turntable, place the tonearm in the "down" position, and apply the securing plastic clip if your turntable has one. Then, simply grasp the counterweight and pull it gently toward you, off the end of the tonearm. The weight is held on the thread using a small, spring-loaded ball-bearing, so only a small amount of force is needed to remove it. Also, the clip that holds this ball bearing against the counterweight's thread is small and not too hardwearing, so use care when removing it.

Tips & Warnings

• If you bought your turntable second hand, it may have a non-standard counterweight fitted to complement a custom, extra heavy or extra light headshell. Be aware that these two components need to be able to balance and so need to be of similar weights. If you plan to replace one or the other, check this in advance.

References

• Vinyl Engine: Technics User Manual Repository

Resources

• Audio Junkies: Turntable Basics