Ionizers create ozone. Ozone is not good for rubber things like turntable belts and is harmful to breath.
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I’ve been going nuts on the static/record handling thing for a month now and this is what I have learned; Took me 50 plus years of playing records also......
As we know, static will hold the dirt onto the vinyl causing noisier playback and more damage since it in effect is glued to the surface. The stylus hits it and bad things happen. Without the static the dirt is just pushed away and hopefully up out of the groove and onto the flats of the surface where a roller (or brush) will take them away.
1) It’s essential to actually know how static charged the record is otherwise it’s all guesswork. The easiest way to see this - though seems crude - hang a length of toilet paper down off something. I have it on the back of my speaker. See how much the vinyl attracts the paper.
2) A few passes with the Milty stat gun - while holding the album in hand - neutralizes the static. I remember being a skeptic way back when lol
3) Any brushing of the record surface with anything, including that "anti-stat" grounded brush on the arm, or a velvet pad, or those regular carbon fiber "antistat" brushs, adds static. They all do. They should be called static brushes. The vinyl just eats up the electrons.
4) I like using those silicon rollers as I feel they do not push dirt off the flats and back into the grooves like brushes do and they really grab a lot of stuff. But they add static also.
5) So go ahead and brush or roll with whatever but then hit with the Milty... WITH THE ALBUM IN HAND. For some reason the grounding at the turntable prevents proper de-statting.
6) The stylus adds a slight charge and more if it has even a bit of dust dragging on it.
7) A USB microscope is great to see how quickly a diamond can grab dust. It also could drive one crazy. I have one permanently mounted at the table and move the arm to a holder so the stylus is in focus for examination.
8) There is an art to holding the record in one hand and rolling or brushing it, then blasting it with the Milty, and getting the record onto the platter without dropping the album. Care must be taken at this point especially after having some libations.
9) Use a dust cover. The whole paranoia about resonances is just that. Unless you are cranking 100 dbs at a club or something. Not using a dust cover would drive me nuts. But that’s just me. It’s amazing how quickly dust and stuff gets back onto vinyl. But we do have a dog. :)
10) Humidity helps prevent the person from getting charges from carpet but even with high humidity levels, vinyl is an electron attractor and the records will gain static.
hope this helps