SME 20/2 Static Electricity

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.  

The newest version of the Audioquest record brush is grounded via your body; the bristles are in electrical contact with the handle.  I have found that this works pretty well to dispel static charge in the process of wiping an LP before play.  All the other cures and preventatives mentioned here probably have one degree or another of benefit.  My own biases make me skeptical about Gruv Glide or any other spray used anywhere near my LPs or equipment. That's just my personal opinion, and I don't believe such sprays are essential in view of the other available options.

My advise for the grounding mat is an easy one, it only cost 15.00 and no need to spray anything or buy a humidifier. It is a no brainer. In the 7 years I have used it, I have never had a problem with static zapping my system. I cut the mat down to 3" by 3" and have it sticking out from under the turntable at the top of my audio rack.  It is held down by 3M double sided tape and does not move but is easily removable.

Just get one of these:

https://www.ds-audio-w.biz/ion-001-vinyl-ionizer/