Is this the solution to LP static issues?? Seems to be!

Hi @daveyf,

Grounding the bearing is specific to the turntable and its construction.

On our turntables, we have a dedicated grounding screw on the bottom of the bearing. You’d have to look at your turntable to see if you can adapt something in order to accomplish this.

I’m not current on Linn subchassis construction (they used to be stamped sheet metal). I’d look somewhere in this general area, while of course, taking care to not mess up your suspension tuning.  I'd do so by probing with an ohm meter (one end on the record spindle), to see how far away from it you can find continuity (to attach a ground lug).

Your tonearm cable ground (the 5th wire) is primarily intended to carry the shield through the arm tube (metal arm wands, obviously). Finishing methods like anodizing aluminum or titanium create an insulating layer, and this will interrupt the connection to the armboard, etc.

... Thom @ Galibier Design

@thom_at_galibier_design  with the Linn table, the subchassis is connected to the bearing, both being metal parts, the subchassis connects to the tonearm post, which has a ground to the phono stage. 

FWIW - Different ground locations can have different results. When I first grounded my platter spindle (VPI TNT/Classics platter), my first ground attempt was to the phono-preamp ground connection. This was not successful - record playback was still noisy. I then tried a ground post that is on the balanced power transformer (BPT) that supplies power to my system - this was not successful. I tried grounding it to a 120VAC outlet different than the one supplying the BPT - that was not successful. I now have the ground wire (1/4" tin plated copper braid) attached to the 120VAC outlet ground with a banana-plug (lug via the cover plate attachment screws is an option) that supplies power to the BTP. This follows the basic wisdom to ground back to the source to minimize circulating ground currents/voltages; and it may be more than just grounding to drain away static, there 'may' be other electrical noise in-play.  

Just some personal experience.

Hi antinn,
The relative humidity is dropping fast and I will start running my experiments again shortly. Static accumulation on records is a very complex issue. The environment, storage and how they are played all affect this. 
I was always led to believe that the stylus rubbing the groove was the primary motivator but then last Summer I played a record with and without the conductive sweep arm I always use and there was no static accumulation either way indicating that perhaps the cause of static lie elsewhere. I am about to perform the same experiment again at low humidity.
Having said all this, putting anything that leaves a residue on the records is a big mistake. It will only gum up your stylus. A clean record should never need to be cleaned. Always store records in static resistant plastic inner sleeves, never paper as paper will always increase static accumulation on vinyl.  

mijostyn

... putting anything that leaves a residue on the records is a big mistake. It will only gum up your stylus.

Absolutely agree! There is nothing like playing a pristine, clean LP. The goal is to have it free of any gunk.

A clean record should never need to be cleaned.

I’m not sure what that means. I suspect @mijostyn means that once cleaned, an LP will never need to be cleaned again. If so, he’s mistaken. Eventually, if the record is played occasionally, it will acquire dust from the environment and need to be cleaned again.