2. tech-talk
  3. 1024530605

Talk About Static Cling...

..and, no, not from the clothes dryer! This is a frequent occurence to which I hope someone can give me a "why?" answer. Taking a clean LP, using a Zerostat gun and then applying GruvGlide, I supposedly would have eliminated static from the LP. After such treatment, the styrofoam test chip provided with the GruvGlide slides right off and no static appears present. After a one-side play, removing the record makes the hairs on my arms stand straight on end. So much static that if I don't "mute" the preamp, the built up charge will sometimes make the preamp "trip" and shut down as my arm passes in front of the cartridge. What is causing the static to build up so RAPIDLY, and what might I do to eliminate the problem. (MM cartridge, wall mount, no problem with cables crossing).
motdathird
mrderrick
292 posts
 
Static electricity is quite amazing. You either need to prevent it from building up, or find a way to bleed it off. Almost any insulated object traveling through the air will build up a static charge. What material it's made out of will help determine how much charge it will hold. In the lift truck example, operators were being "shocked" when they reached to pick items from metal bins. I had to install a copper wand bonded to the lift truck. They had to touch the bin with the wand to discharge the static. The water flowing through the pvc pipe supplied a water trough for livestock. The animals stopped drinking from the metal trough. I had to actually bond the pvc every 10 ft and drive a ground rod to bleed the static charge off from the water flow through the pvc. We make sure that we bond ourselves with a wrist strap when using double insulated tools around static sensitive equipment. The spinning cutting tools can cause a very large charge to build up. You really don't realize just how well insulated your body is. So I would suspect that an LP spinning in the air, just might build up a static charge. Maybe someone could build a system to blow humidified air on the LP? Just an idle thought......Bob D
Post removed 
lugnut
1,190 posts
 
Seriously guys, I'm telling you that some of my LP's are made out of voodoo vinyl.

Happy listening,
Patrick
herman
2,257 posts
 
I don't think you can measure a static charge with a scope. It will just drain away through the probe. The straps used to prevent static build up in manufacturing enviroments and by test technicians are just wire with a large value of resistance in series.

Could be wrong. Let us know what you find out Bob.

There are several devices that drain away the charge as you play the record. They look like a tonearm with a brush of some sort instead of a sylus that drains away the charge through an attached wire that is grounded. Picks up dust too. I believe Audio Technica made one as well as some others. George Merril had some for sale recently at Underground Sound.
motdathird OP
77 posts
 
Not sure abut voodoo Lugnut, but I know that my double re-release of Miles Workin' and Steamin'will pick up more static than any other I've ever noticed. POPS within the first two inches of play (AFTER Gruv-Glide and without coming within 15 feet of the TT), I "tripped" my preamp off twice before a side could be played through and am not using it at all until I get this issue solved. Relegated to listening to "Surry with the Fringe on Top" on CD - :-(
More to discover