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
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.
Antinn, I also have absolutely no static issues But I am going to have to stop telling people that the stylus rubbing the groove is the cause of statuc build up if it is not true. Something is causing static build up and there does not seem to any unity as to the cause but there certainly is one. We are certainly in agreement as to rice paper sleeves and filters. Both my air handlers have high efficiency filters and it helps. I have to wipe off my dust cover once every other month instead of every other week or so. It would be really nice to put your turntable in a clean room.
You could make one in your house. God knows what it would cost. 
Almost all of my records are in rice paper sleeves now. Paper sleeve are certainly the worst. But I do not think they cause static in normal use. 
Records can hold on to a static charge indefinitely and paper sleeves will stick to a charged record making the problem rather obvious. Rice paper sleeves will not. 
Anyway, I know what I do works and is very efficient. We shall see if I can define the problem better.