Zerostat Milty really?

ebm
Interesting. How did you come up with 28%  :-)

The SHURE published a research report about "charges on record" at 80's (http://www.shure.com/americas/support/find-an-answer/high-fidelity-phonograph-cartridge-technical-se...). It is a good read if you really want to get to the bottom of static issue. In the "Measurement of Electrostatic Charges on Phonograph Records" section, it concludes that the charges on record are always negative. The "Removing Charges from the Record" section elaborates the details of anti-static devices including zero-static gun type and ionizer/Destat type, etc. It concludes that those kind of devices generate both positive and negative ions.

The Detstat II/III is good for eliminating pre-exist static on record before spinning it.

Spincat, Many thanks for finding and posting this wonderful article on static and vinyl.  It clears up most of the issues we have been discussing, and it does so with a valid scientific approach. It was published back in 1978, back in the day when audiophiles were treated as thinking beings, by such great companies as Shure and by great magazines like "Audio" and other more specialized publications. Notice the absence of words and phrases like "Quantum" and "Crystals".

First and foremost to me, I see where I was wrong about what comes out of the Zerostat/Milty.  Apparently the guns CAN make positive charge, but in the form of positive ions, not protons or positrons.  I think I once knew that but forgot it. I spotted several other useful factoids:
(1) Playing the LP per se does NOT produce a significant static charge on its surface due to the friction between stylus and groove OR due to its rotation in air.
(2) Static charge on the underside of the LP is not affected by efforts to discharge the playing surface but nor does it affect the playing surface until the LP is lifted off the platter, whereupon the charge on the underside re-distributes itself across both surfaces.
(3) This article effectively supports the idea behind the new Audioquest brush and many other older products like it, which grounds its carbon fiber bristles via the hand of the user (or via a ground cable).  And carbon fiber is also recommended for sweeping debris off an LP without adding charge.
(4) As to how the static charge gets there, where it goes, etc, everyone interested ought to read this article, slowly.
(5) The article also states that the "guns" release positive ions when the trigger is pulled and negative ions when the trigger is released.  If most static charge is negative in polarity on the surface of the LP (as this article also does say), then it would seem logical that you want to pull the trigger with the gun pointed at the surface, hold it, and then slowly pull the gun away from the LP surface before fully releasing the trigger.

Many other interesting tidbits here.  I am going to print it.

@lewm, I am glad that you found this article interesting and helpful. I have read and benefited from it for years. Since people participating are from different backgrounds, I tried not to get into technical details, but focusing on audiophile/sonic perspectives.

The (1)  you mentioned is very true. Most of the people do not aware of this since struggling on spark and pull from the platter. Even does NOT produce a significant static charge, it does affect the sonic and the signal that cartridge pickup to a  degree since the cartridge is such a sensitive device. It does not need a lot of static charges for a cartridge to pick it up. I found the sound becomes edgy, fewer details and less definition, etc. Unfortunately, we are calibrating and setting up the vinyl playback by ear and according to this.

There are stages for anti-static treatment.  Stage one:  sparkless and no pull from the platter. Stage two:  neutralize/minimize the static build-up during playing and improving the sonic presentation. 

The good grounding is the prerequisite for the new Audioquest (or similar) brushes to be effective. The typical human body resistance ranging from hundred ohms to hundred kilo ohms depends on conditions. It certainly not as good as a grounding wire. There are some similar products (brushes) using grounding wire. Since the brush is going to touch most of your records (used, new), it is better to make sure it is as spotless as possible.