Options for ridding records of static electricity

@mijostyn,

"I would like to get this settled once and for all"  My only response is good luck.  There are so many variables.  The ambient humidity; the various ground potentials, the record material (which is a complete wildcard), the record mat, the record liner, you - what is your hydration level; just to name a few.  If there was an answer, I would like to think the RCA engineers from years past would have figured it out - they spent quite a bit of effort developing anti-static records with carefully bended formulas.  But, one always has to admire those that try.  But, there appears to be a significant risk with just removing the record from the sleeve and lifting it from the platter mat.  So, there 'could' be an accumulation effect from the end of play platter lift-off to sleeving; and this will be influenced by the ambient humidity and the hydration status of the human.  Personally, I do not have any major static issues - but dust/lint that is only visible with black-light is often in the air.  Use of room HEPA filter can help.  Otherwise, all my records have been deep-wet cleaned and anit-static sleeves are used, and I have good luck with the  Kinetronics Anti-Static Microfiber Cloth, Tiger Cloth wetted with about one drop of atomized DI water (from a nasal spray device).  

Neil

The original zerostat gun (red) by discwasher is an effective tool, as well as a leather mat. Also the audioquest carbon fiber brush with the brass colored metal in the handle (newest version) seems to be effective. Also the use of anti static record sleeves is a good start. 

Lewm, they called it the Magnetic-Kinetic interface. The Medallion was the last version. Both transformers always drove all the panels. With the 2+2s they used one interface but with the 3+3s and 4+4s they used two.
The 4+4's were about the same size as your 845s.
The two transformer idea originated because it was imposible to get the entire frequency range out of one transformer without saturation. I intensonally had a large transformer built that sacrificed bass for high end because I have always used subwoofers. Boy did that work. Now depending on the length of the wall you have the 845s on, you will need multiple subs. A 16 foot wall requires 4 subs. If you do not like playing over 95 dB and do not care about the bottom octave 10" drivers will do. Otherwise you have to stick with 12" drivers. In sealed cabinets they are not that big and because they are right against the wall and in corners they sort of disappear. But there are other serious considerations when matching subs to ESLs we can talk about another time as we are hijacking this thread.
Antinn, I really do not think they thought of it as an important issue compared with all the others. You are right there are a number of variables that can alter the results. I have some control of humidity as we use AC. It was 54% this morning. My records have no static at all to start. That part is easy. Spinning a record all night with the dust cover open resulted in no noticable static charge. So I think we can say that just spinning a record at 54% humidity will not cause static build up. My mat is not conductive. Tonight I am going to play a record without the sweep arm to see if a charge developes. If it does we can safely say that something about playing a record creates a static charge and since creating a charge requires "intimate contact" we can safely assume it is the stylus rubbing. If no charge developes it gets a bit more complicated. Most likely the stylus rubbing does not create a charge but there could be something about my turntable or environment that is keeping the charge from developing. I have been using a conductive sweep arm since the early 70's and have not had an static build up records. So, I have not thought much about it. The only records I have ever had to clean are the ones I had before sweep arm use. Again, I do not buy used records but they certainly should be cleaned before play.
Triton X100 is a surfactant. Water all by itself is "anti-static" Triton X100, distilled water with a touch of alcohol make a woderful record cleaning solution. Out of the bath the records will be totally discharged and all the solution will evaporate.  Any substance that stays on the record is bad news antistatic or not. 

This is way off topic for the OP, and for that I apologize.  When I removed the passive crossover components from the 845s, I replaced the OEM treble transformer, because that unit could not have handled full range input, and replaced it with a massive full range EI type transformer, with a 1:90 step-up ratio.  So now the bass transformers, which work up to about 2kHz before pooping out, are in parallel with that full range one.  I experimented with using the full range tranny alone to drive the 845s, but it doesn't have the cojones.  The bass tranny is needed for good LF response.

Here we go again.  I have used distilled deionized water + triton X100 + isopropyl alcohol forever in my RCM.  Although it does a good job, I was eventually motivated to try rinsing the LP surface after a good cleaning with the above mix, because there was word on this forum and others that especially triton X100 could leave a residue.  (This is using a VPI HW17 RCM.)  I found that a rinse with distilled water, using a clean wand on the HW17, made a noticeable improvement in my results.  Ergo, this suggests there IS a residue left behind after evaporation or in this case vacuum suction. I would guess that passive evaporation would leave even more of a residue than suction.  I was a laboratory chief at NIH or FDA in those days, and I had access to lab grade chemicals for making the solution.  (Retired now, so no such luck, but I still have some high quality ingredients left.)
What instrument did you use to measure electrostatic charge on your LP, before vs after the experiment with room air?

With subwoofers you won't need the bass transformer. I plan on bypassing those controls also. I use full range digital "room control" which is really speaker control. I can make the speakers do whatever I want in the digital domain where there is much less distortion. Use subs and you will increase your headroom by 10dB and noticably lower distortion in your 845's. 
This is not very scientific but hey neither was the Kite. I can only tell if there is a charge there or not. I can't measure it. It is a qualitative test and the most sencitive I have available to me. Everybody is going to laugh at me now. When charging the record to see if I could measure anything with my meter I noticed that the charged record had a strong attraction to the hair on the back of my fingers so strong that I could feel it. Testing with multiple levels of charge it became obvious that the attraction to my hair was more sencitive than the attraction to the paper sleeve. All I have to do is move the back of my hand close to the record and I can see the hair flexing towards the record. With no charge the hair does not move at all. With a highly charged record the hairs stand at full attention. 
Anybody with hair fingers can try it at home. You could also borrow a gorilla from the zoo. 
The baseline was set by running the grounded brush over both sides of the record shorting it out. Hair does not move. At the end I held a finger over the record, no attraction at all. I took the record off the turntable and checked it again. Still no attraction. I rubbed the record with the paper sleeve and hairs stood straight up. Tonight I will short out the record again, play a side without the brush and and see if the record developes any charge. By the way and interestingly, holding the record does not dissipate the charge. Pulling a record out of a paper sleeve does not create a measurable charge at 54% humidity. Rubbing the record firmly with the paper sleeve 10 times back and forth creates a sizable charge pulling the hair straight. I don't have an anti static brush to test but my guess is just holding it over the record will not work well. They should make these brushes with a connection to ground. Then they would work great.