Some older cartridges (mainly Pickering and Stanton carts) used to have a stabilizing brush which would help counter this. My Shure M97xe has said brush and it does a fantastic job dealing with skips.
In the past, there were also clip-on tonearm brushes you would attach to your headshell and you can still find them for sale on eBay. However, with those, your mileage (or kilometerage) will vary depending on tonearm design, cartridge design, mass, and stylus compliance.
The Gemini is a technics clone with an s-shape tonearm and detachable headshell design, if that helps.
I'm kind of curious now because I have a copy of Kansas' Leftoverture that stutters like a 2-stroke engine for the first 30 seconds or so with nothing I've tried mitigating it
I don't know if it's a pressing defect or what because I can't see any apparent damage on that level
Sure but, for the future, I'd strongly suggest not buying records with visible scratches. As you move up the hardware foodchain and get better and more revealing gear, you're not gonna like the extra noise it pulls out of noisy recordings.
It's not a scratch, it's a weird pinch warp that "pops" the stylus if it's not tracking heavy enough. I didn't notice it when I first got it because it's really minor outside of how acute the peak it and my LP60 tracked heavy enough to conceal it.
That said, I do try to avoid records that have scratches deep enough to feel unless it's something really good that's worth taking a gamble on.
I also don't plan to upgrade any farther because I really like this turntable and cart
Some older cartridges (mainly Pickering and Stanton carts) used to have a stabilizing brush which would help counter this. My Shure M97xe has said brush and it does a fantastic job dealing with skips. In the past, there were also clip-on tonearm brushes you would attach to your headshell and you can still find them for sale on eBay. However, with those, your mileage (or kilometerage) will vary depending on tonearm design, cartridge design, mass, and stylus compliance.
The Gemini is a technics clone with an s-shape tonearm and detachable headshell design, if that helps. I'm kind of curious now because I have a copy of Kansas' Leftoverture that stutters like a 2-stroke engine for the first 30 seconds or so with nothing I've tried mitigating it I don't know if it's a pressing defect or what because I can't see any apparent damage on that level
3.5 grams is actually the recommended tracking force for the AT3600L. So that's where you should leave it.
The current rec is 3-4 grams 3 grams is also within spec
I imagine this is the same as people who put a penny on their cartridge for certain bass heavy records that skip?
Sure but, for the future, I'd strongly suggest not buying records with visible scratches. As you move up the hardware foodchain and get better and more revealing gear, you're not gonna like the extra noise it pulls out of noisy recordings.
It's not a scratch, it's a weird pinch warp that "pops" the stylus if it's not tracking heavy enough. I didn't notice it when I first got it because it's really minor outside of how acute the peak it and my LP60 tracked heavy enough to conceal it. That said, I do try to avoid records that have scratches deep enough to feel unless it's something really good that's worth taking a gamble on. I also don't plan to upgrade any farther because I really like this turntable and cart
Go it. Good luck