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Options for ridding records of static electricity

I am getting back into vinyl, listening to “garage sale” finds and also new albums that I have been picking up. I have a nice old Linn Sondek LP12 with the felt mat. Every time I go to remove a record from the spindle or flip the record, static electricity grabs the felt mat and it sticks like a magnet. I have to very carefully flip the felt mat at the corner with my finger but one of these times I’m going to slip and smudge or scratch a record. 

I’ve seen the “Milty Zerostat” and seem to remember this product from back in the day. I see that it is still made and there is one eBay vendor that has them for $77. Is this my best bet? I thought Michael Fremor talked about these in one of his videos. 

Are there other products I should look at to reduce static electricity on my records? Thanks for any help you can give.
masi61

Showing 2 responses by jro1903

jro1903
6 posts
 
Hi @masi61
I have a Milty Zerostat. I can thoroughly recommend. Whenever I buy a new record I remove from the sleeve, hold the milty in one hand and the record in the other (don’t lay on turntable), point the milty at the record holding around 10-12 inches away and squeeze the trigger. I then slowly release and wait until you stop hearing the slight sound the milty makes. To be honest, and I suspect there’s no need, I fire it a couple of times on each side. I also replace the inner sleeve (if necessary) with a mofi sleeve. I don’t have any issues with static. I hope this helps.
jro1903
6 posts
 
I don’t mean to be rude, being new here and all, but wow you sure are an argumentative bunch! 
@masi61  I would recommend that you test some things out for yourself... it seems you have several options from some very helpful posts. I again would recommend the Milty. Why? First off it is a trades tool that is proven to eliminate static. It’s not witch craft or snake oil designed to part record collectors from their cash. Buy one and if it doesn’t do what it’s designed for then it’s defective and you should return for another. Try a trades store, I bought mine from Screwfix in the UK but there will be equivalents worldwide I’m sure.  Ok back to records... For those records seemingly welded to the inner sleeve with static, the milty offers a very quick and effective method to reduce the static. You can test the effectiveness of the tool, and the method I suggested, by statically charging a balloon or some old damaged record before holding close to a teaspoon of ground pepper and salt. Watch it lift those grains. Now fire the milty at your chosen statically charged item... watch those grains fall. There are variations on the experiment, have some fun. Now I’m not saying that the record won’t gather static again over time (I haven’t witnessed it) but I am saying it’s sufficiently discharged for an uninterrupted playing session. This is my advice and based purely on personal experience. Finally welcome back to the wonderful world of records! Peace. J-Ro
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