static Issues...anybody know why?

https://www.maplatine.com/en/content/267-how-do-you-reduce-static-electricity-on-records-

Good advice.

Carbon fiber brush and anti static sleeves work well for me.

Had a Zerostat back in the day.  It worked. 

I’ll buy the theory that the different cart configurations result in static electricity being conducted away to different extents.

The tendency of the stylus and cartridge to be forced inward on a blank section (for which their is virtually no friction) of the record illustrates that friction is not the driving force, it’s the centripetal force. In the case I just described of the blank section, the force of friction is actually toward the outer edge of the record. The innermost side of the groove wears faster than the outermost side if there is no anti-skate mechanism. That’s due to the centripetal force. As I already said, the force of friction due to the stylus riding along the groove is tangent to the direction of motion toward the center. So the force of friction has no inward vector. Hel-loo! This is an obvious case of monkey see, monkey do. 🐒 🐒 🐒

Carbon fiber brush and anti static sleeves work well for me.

Had a Zerostat back in the day.  It worked.

Exactly, been using carbon fibre brush for 23 years and zerostat gun for 15 years, never had an issue with static on many turntables with many cartridges. Very simple and very useful devices, normally i don't even need a gun, but in worst situation this device will solve the problem. 

Geoff, as regards the skating force, you are either joking or very wrong. What happens on a blank area of vinyl is not a lot different from what happens when the stylus is tracing a groove. Friction and lack of tangency. You can call the skating force a “centripetal force” if you want because in the loose sense of the term, it is.