That's sort of weird. I've used the same records for almost half a year now without getting much cue burn. I've also got 44's. Maybe you should try adjusting the weight. Sounds like too much to me, but I haven't gotten a clue on how those Vestax players work though.

how much of the record gets "burnt" ?

I agree with Rev... your weight is double that of the maximum suggested. The specs for the m44-7s are "1.5 to 3 grams tracking force".

yeah and the Shure M44G's only require .75 to 1.5 grams of wieght

Usually the first 1/2 minute gets real bad.

But if there that light they skip like crazy. is it just my heavy hands?

are you familiar with the track offset feature?

check it out in the manual.

sounds like you've got heavy hands. i too suffer from heavy hands. practice scratching in relative mode for awhile. occasionally switch to absolute mode and practice, the needle will skip alot. this gives you practice lightening up your hand and re-cueing the record (since it will jump a groove or two).

if you still have all your old control vinyl, use the vinyl offset feature to utililze the other 9.5-14.5 minutes.

Make sure your anti-skate is set properly as well (typically, it should be the same number as the amount of weight you put on the needles).

ya for me, when i get burn in the first minute or two, i offset the track to say 2 minutes. Now i find the new 00.00 point that is 2 minutes in on the control record. Now i lay a peice of tape/sticker across the first to minutes at a angle, now i just have to drop the needle anywhere on the first two minutes and the sticky guides me RIGHT to 00.00 on the control record offset to 2 minutes. Try that out :)

Quick question...how do you know if you have a record burn?

If you for instance get a really bad signal on the beginning of the record, but almost a perfect one (70-100) on another position.

I don't think PDX-2000 have anti-skate, they have a straight tonearm so they don't need it.
3g weight should be plenty with M44-7s that's what I have mine on and after a week or so breaking in new needles they stick to the records almost all the time (and I have very heavy hands)

My bad. Thanks nob... you know I only mess with Technics. ;-)

Is the record tight on the spindle? If not use thin strips of dymo tape to tighten it.

Loose hole is the main cause of skipping. If you get it nice and snug you should be able to drop the weight and still be heavy handed wothout skipping. Also, my control vinyl was slightly bowled which can cause skipping.

You might also want to try using the headshell weight (if you don't) - still keep the weight down to less than 3 grams. In theory a heavier headshell (with the same down force) should be more difficult to skip cos of conservation of momentum

never use the headshell weight with the pdxs.. only makes things worse. your 447 cart should sit flush to the headshells front and your weight brought all the way in and then out until it clicks into the first groove. this suggested by vestax tech support directly. also, setting your tonearms height up to high will also cause problems, mine are set from the factory with no adjustments and there is no skipping.

Should've thought it might me different on PDXs to techs. Just to be clear though I didn't say put more weight on the needle. Just more mass at the headshell end, i.e. if you put the headshell weight on take the extra weight back off the needle by turning the tonearm weight.

This way you have the same downforce on the needle but any sideways forces that may be causing skipping will have less effect due to the increased mass of the headshell. F=ma so a horizontal "F" causes less horizontal "a" on a bigger "m".