Thanks for answering Pete and Thanks for your comments on my gear. I'm indeed a Bottlehead guy as you noticed!
I like very much my Garrard and my EMT tonearm but I feel that their weakest link is the coupling of the tonearm to the plinth, or better said the support of the tonearm. EMT tonearms are tricky in that you cannot adjust or align the cartridge so you have to position the tonearm base the closer you can get to the recommended distance and voila no cartridge alignment ever!
I'm pretty sure that the tonearm diameter is less than 23mm but I'd better buy a caliper (new word to me, in spanish it's named vernier) and make sure.
I couldn't really follow what the wave springs and bushing are for so I'd go with whatever you recommend.
When you say that the tonearm adds .23 inches to the height I don't really follow it. 0.23 inches to what? I attached a picture of the tonearm that I found on the internet that shows the base or support it uses. It's already "tall" but not "tall" enough for the 301 so that's why I had to mount it using the wooden toroid that you can see on my turntable. I would like it very much to get rid of such piece and attach the VTAF directly to the plinth without any other "armboard" but I'm not sure the height will be enough.
The extension pedestal also I don't follow what it's for. If you see my picture my arm rest is glued to the plint.
I assume the teflon upgrade is an improvement so for $30 I'd go for it. The same for the smokey silver finish which I think I would like better than the raw brass.
