SME 20/2 Static Electricity

@stereo5 
Great idea.  I will try the grounding mat.  
Thanks!

@millercarbon

Does Static Guard leave any kind of residue behind?  
I would be hesitant to use anything leaving a residue around my pricey electronics.

I would not spray static guard on equipment.  If you have carpet, a light spray on the carpet will help to reduce the static buildup that you develop from walking across the carpet.  The best overall approach is a humidifier, get a good cold air humidfier and put distilled water in it (to prevent mineral deposits from the evaporating water).

snackeyp, I have a 30/12. I live in New England and as soon as he heat starts running the relative humidity drops like a rock and static charges everywhere become worse. Look up triboelectric series and you will notice that vinyl is way down at the bottom. It loves to hold on to electrons. There are few things that are worse. Aluminum however is in the middle and could care one way or the other. It is a great material to make turntables out of. Transferring electrons requires intimate contact. Rubbing helps a lot. The charge is generated by the stylus rubbing the groove with a force of 5000 PSI. You can create thousands of volts of static electricity playing just one side. If the charge has no where to go the record will hold on to it forever. 
The SME tables are suspended by rubber bands. You have to make sure the upper platform is properly grounded along with the tonearm. Next you have to discharge the record WHILE IT IS PLAYING. The best way to do this is a conductive sweep arm like this one  https://www.sleevecityusa.com/Antistatic-Record-Cleaning-Arm-p/tac-01.htm. The bristles are conductive carbon fiber. It tracks along with the tonearm picking up incidental dust and discharges the record along the way. Things like mats and Zerostats DO NOT WORK. Vinyl is not conductive. Discharging one side will not completely discharge the other. Remember the static is being created by the stylus rubbing the groove.
So make sure the upper platform is grounded and get one of these arms and I guarantee you will never have a problem with static again. If you do I will buy the sweep arm from you.  

Gruv Glide works perfectly to remove static.  I won't get involved in a discussion of the sonic benefits or that stuff, but it is a total cure for static.  
I used to have difficulties with static with my Linn, but the Basis has a grounded bearing, which seems to have solved the problem.  I don't use it anymore, but I did use it on many records and never found it to harm anything.