Zero Stat Gun

For a Zero-stat "how to", do what Cerrot said. Use it when you need to and squeeze slowly. If you hear/feel clicking you're squeezing too fast and it won't work.

As for your report of hearing "static" during play, you're not. Frequent or constant snaps, crackles and pops are not caused by static. They're caused by dirt and/or by damage from previous plays, as others explained on your previous thread .

Audible static discharges are rare (though not unknown). If you did get one it would typically take several revolutions (at least) for your rig to build up enough static potential to produce a second one. My rigs have not produced an audible static discharge in five years of constant use, despite a static-prone winter climate.

For those on tight budgets a Zero-Stat is an optional tool. There are simple (and free) ways to live without one.

Record cleaning, however, is not optional. A record being played uncleaned is a record being destroyed. Priorities...

P.S. Skip the Gruv Glide, at least for new records. It may quiet a few old, ruined LP's but it smothers the life out of good ones and builds up residue on the stylus that must be removed.

As Dan_Ed, Dcstep and I have all suggested, your snap, crackle and pop problem is very unlikely to be caused by static.

Want to prove it? Just do what Dcstep said: zap them with the Zerostat until the hairs on the back of your arm don't stand up when you pass the record over them. Then play it. If it's still noisy the problem isn't static.

Again, the two most likely causes are:
1) dirt still in the grooves and,
2) groove damage from previous plays.

You can fix #1 but #2 is permanent, and it can be caused by #1 because playing a record dirty inevitably causes damage. You can't drag dirt through a plastic groove with a super-sharp diamond chisel without damaging the plastic.

You said (on the other thread) that you're playing records you received from previous owners.

A. Did the original owners play these records without cleaning? If so, they may be damaged and never play silently again.

B. Did the original owners play these records on inexpensive or poorly adjusted rigs? If so, they may be damaged and will never play silently again.

I have a pretty typical collection for long time posters here, around 4,000 records. 3,500 of those play very quietly, perhaps more quietly than you'd believe if you've never heard a good vinyl setup.

The noisy 500 are mostly my own high school and college records from the 1970's and 1980's. Those were all played without cleaning, sometimes on very modest equipment by a guy who had little idea what he was doing, other than enjoying the music of course. Most of them will never play quietly again. Dirt got ground against the grooves during mulitiple plays and ruined the vinyl, or the rig itself ruined the vinyl. The only way for me to get a quiet copy is to buy another one.

It's not a matter of age. I have records from the 1950's and early 1960's that are dead quiet, because they were always well treated.

You're right of course that there are many ways of cleaning records. Pick one, try it and see if the results satisfy. You have to start somewhere.

Doug

P.S. I'd suggest buying, cleaning and playing at least one brand new LP, just to have a reference for what a quiet surface sounds like.