Microscope tips

[cosmicslop]

Hello Lathe Trolls,

Thank you for welcoming me into your community. I have been cutting for a little under a year with a vinylrecorder lathe, and still consider myself a total beginner.
I have many many questions to ask, but thought I would start with only one. I was told that looking at the grooves under a microscope is essential to the cutting process, and I certainly believe it. But I find that often when I look at my grooves under a microscope, I do not know exactly what I am looking at, or rather what to look for. I was wondering if any of you could offer tips for what to look for when viewing grooves under a microscope.

More specifically, I have been having trouble assessing groove width. Is groove width only a function of the amplitude of the input signal? Or does the sitting weight of the cutter head on the disc also affect the groove width?

I have observed two grooves "crashing" into one another. I assume this is a bad thing, although sometimes when I play the record I find that it sounds okay, other times the distortion (or skip) can be clearly heard.

When cutting a record where I have plenty of space (e.g. cutting 5 min of music on a 12 inch record), I notice that there is plenty of space between the grooves, I assume this is good. Other times, I look and see that the grooves are touching each other but not colliding, is this acceptable? Is it common practice for there to always be a space between the grooves ?

Any tips are appreciated, any red flags to look out or specific things to check.

Thank you,

H