I don't by any means consider myself an expert in turntables, but I must say I'm a fan of vinyl and have been for my whole life. Two things:
1. I finally re-hooked up my turntable after it was out of commission for three years. It's a Pioneer PL-400 (not high-end by any means, but decent). It worked well w/out issue three years ago when I used again.

Now, however, it'll run at the normal 33 1/3 speed, then, for no apparent reason and at varying intervals, it'll slow for about a half-second then pick back up to normal speed. The only perceptible thing I can see is that there are three small red lights that are always on when the turntable's spinning. When it slows for this half-second, those three lights almost move like they're attached to the turntable. (I'm sure no one has this exact model, but if they did, they'd know exactly what I'm talking about. If you don't, I'm sure you're in the dark).

Any ideas?

2. I'm COMPLETELY confused w/ the counterbalance and the anti-skate and everything else. I feel like I get it up through balancing it so the cartridge/needle is balanced w/ the counterbalance on the other end. Then I get completely lost when it comes to spinning the dial in front and lining up the counterweight in back. Any suggestions for how to REALLY do this right? Anyone know of a video I can watch of someone doing this? I figure if I can't figure this out (and I'm a relatively intelligent guy), millions of people must have their turntable setup completely wrong as well. Help.