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Options for ridding records of static electricity

I am getting back into vinyl, listening to “garage sale” finds and also new albums that I have been picking up. I have a nice old Linn Sondek LP12 with the felt mat. Every time I go to remove a record from the spindle or flip the record, static electricity grabs the felt mat and it sticks like a magnet. I have to very carefully flip the felt mat at the corner with my finger but one of these times I’m going to slip and smudge or scratch a record. 

I’ve seen the “Milty Zerostat” and seem to remember this product from back in the day. I see that it is still made and there is one eBay vendor that has them for $77. Is this my best bet? I thought Michael Fremor talked about these in one of his videos. 

Are there other products I should look at to reduce static electricity on my records? Thanks for any help you can give.
masi61
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,590 posts
 
The Linn felt mat damps out the platter and is spec’ed for the table. While I suspect you have not really AB’ed a number of mats for the Linn, the unfortunate thing ( unfortunate, as the felt mat does incur static) is that of all the mats I have heard on the table ( and that includes rubber and vinyl) the felt is easily heard as being superior.
@daveyf  This really strongly suggests that you are dealing with a resonance- and that the felt is part of the tailored sound as a result. I prefer to kill resonance and vibration entirely. I've had the good fortune to have a platter pad that does that really well (it was designed over a ten year period using many different turntables) and also master tapes- and the machines on which the tapes were made, as well as LPs made from the tapes.


At any rate, felt isn't going to work if you want to get rid of static. A spinning LP made of plastic acts very much in the same way as a Van de Graaff generator but if the LP has a low dielectric constant with respect to the metal platter, static charges can drain off without popping or the like. 
daveyf's avatar
daveyf
2,835 posts
 
Managing static on the LP12 is not going to happen with a felt mat, we all agree with that. BUT, the question the OP has to answer is if he wants to impact his SQ by going away from the felt mat, or if he wants to do away with static ( although I don't know if any mat will 100% solve this problem). The issue with the mat sticking to the LP ( and yes this is an annoying aspect that we all have with the felt) is addressed by Linn with their double sided tape suggestion. 
slaw's avatar
slaw
20,410 posts
 
@daveyf ,

You continue to not understand the OP's  post 
daveyf's avatar
daveyf
2,835 posts
 
@slaw  Let's see if the OP wants to diminish his SQ or wants to diminish just his static. I think maybe you misunderstood some of my points.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,436 posts
 
IF the OP wants to continue using the Linn's stock felt mat, the Furutech DeStat III is imo the best solution for static. Much better than the Zerostat, but considerably more dough. Not ridiculous though---under $300 I believe (I got mine for less on ebay).
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