Options for ridding records of static electricity

Most mysteriously to me, UV light at the right wave length and intensity will also dissipate static electric charge. There's an expensive tweak product idea for someone.

I will dump my Furutech Desat 2 because its worthless are you joking DUDE!!

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.

ebm not at all. The Desat 2 and Zerostat do not solve the problem they just delude you into thinking they do. The static is generated by the stylus rubbing the groove. It is regenerated after only a minute of play time. The static attracts dust and pollution and pulls it deep into the groove where you stylus runs over it at 30,000 PSI per contact patch (we just did the math above) grinding it into the vinyl. All this is worsened by not using a dust cover during play. Unless you want to stand over the record and use these devices during play they are worthless. I'm sorry you guys wasted your money on them. I can't do anything about that. But I can keep others from making the same mistake. Don't feel bad. I bought a Zerostat when they first came out. I stopped using it after a week. Live and learn.
You have to discharge the record during play and the only way I know to do that is with a conductive sweep arm providing a path to ground.
Lewm you are right but it has to be done in a nitrogen or argon atmosphere. X ray irradiation will work in air I believe. I'm pretty sure the conductive sweep arm would be more cost effective and less carcinogenic. 

Aaaarrrgghhhh, Mijostyn.  Now you not only persist in your unsupported claim that the stylus causes electrostatic charge, you have also added a time frame, one minute!  What is your evidence for THAT?  If you observe that charge develops in one minute or less, that could be due to any one of the other three causes we've discussed: friction with ambient air as the LP spins, contact with the body part of a person who is charged up, or friction with the record sleeve as one removes the LP from it.  For me, at the moment, the diamond stylus tip is 4th on my list of possible causes and least likely.  But I am waiting for you to support your claim.
jro1903, What you do is likely to be futile, because it seems at least to me that static charge builds up during the acts of removing the LP from the sleeve, spinning the LP in room air, and/or touching the LP when you yourself are charged up, as occurs after you walk across a wool carpet to the equipment stand, etc.  Also, and I get this from the internet, so take it with a grain of salt at least, the Zerostat trigger is supposed to be squeezed very gently so as not to produce that clicking sound, in both directions, but with the trigger depressed at the end of the process, you move the gun slowly away from the LP surface as you release the pressure on the trigger.  Most also say this is best done when the LP is already on the platter.  Some say it can be spinning, some say not.  But, as Mijo says, that ritual may even be in vain because static charge can come back after you have performed it properly.  Shure Corporation demonstrated that if you discharge an LP while it sits on the platter, there is still charge on the other side, between the LP and the platter surface.  When you then lift the LP to turn it over or return it to storage, the charge on the untreated side redistributes itself evenly onto both the untreated and the treated side. 


I own a Zerostat and used it for decades, but in recent months I use only the new Audioquest carbon fiber brush that has its fibers grounded via the handle of the brush, supposedly allowing charge to drain off to ground via your body.  I can't say that deleting the Zerostat from my ritual has had any effect one way or the other on any problem with static charge.

Mijo, I think I saw this video on Youtube or on a science site, where UV light is shown to deplete static charge, and it was definitely done in open air, not in an inert gas environment.  If I can find the video, I will post the URL.