Zerostat: Old is Gold?

Well, I guess I will have to "bite the bullet" and pony up $40 or so for a used Zerostat gun.  Why they sell for so much use is one of those many audio mysteries I will probably never understand and just have to learn to accept.

It should be easy to determine that the things are working by taking a small piece of styrofoam and rubbing on your shirt to give it enough charge so it will stick.  If you zap it with the gun, it should drop to the floor immediately.

Lewm:  Your response came off as merely pedantic to me.  I was surprised to hear you meant it to be amusing.  In any case, audio related subjects are serious matters as they involve our sense of well being, sanity and self worth.  Blue vs Red, whether Zerostat guns or other concerns are very much are very much "trigger" issues these days and should be treated carefully so as to not provoke endless debate.

Hifiman5:  I bought a CD once.  They are a big scam.  They only have  music on one side.  I only buy LPs.  But thanks for the suggestion.

@andysf   What?  Must be some humor there but I must be too tired to appreciate it...big day entertaining relatives. 😳

Dear Andy, Thanks for the lecture on how to behave on audio websites.  I would have rather thought that it is fun to behave as if we are all friends to begin with, and we are sitting around having a discussion over a hypothetical beer.  In my experience, everything in audio is open to "endless debate", regardless of how circumspect one might or might not be in expressing one's opinion.  I hold no grudge, nor do I bear any anger, directed at anyone here.  That's a given.

One thing I do know, though, is that you'd need to perform some thoughtful testing (if you think using the word "scientific" is pedantic), in order to know whether a particular Zerostat, old or new, British or Chinese in origin, is actually working.  

My experience with the Zerostat left me with the feeling it was just a piece of crap. It never did work right. I guess it was made in the UK, as I bought it over ten years ago. I won't be wasting cash on another one, that's for sure.

Dan

Islandman, We differ in the sense that I do think a Zerostat can work to do the job for which it is intended.  My only point is that I don't know whether MY Zerostat is still working after more than 40 years, and I certainly don't know if a Chinese-made Zerostat is any better or worse than one made in England.  Nor do I think one can answer that question without taking some measurements.

To complicate matters further, there are completely contradictory descriptions of how properly to use a Zerostat, to be found on the internet. One says to operate the trigger back and forth while holding the gun about 12 inches from the LP.  Another says to operate the trigger slowly so not to activate the clicking sound, hold the trigger IN, and then slowly pull the gun away from the vicinity of the LP while very slowly releasing the trigger.  Some folks say you can de-stat while the LP is on the platter, some say not.  So, if the gun does not appear to be working perhaps the problem is the method.  (I don't know myself which is correct, but the idea to hold the trigger IN while pulling the gun away from the LP makes some sense to me.)