Mijo, you’re not going to get believable data from your questionnaire, apart from the info about geography, unless or until all respondents are equipped with a good static meter and know how to use it properly, that is never. But this discussion leads me to buy a meter, just to satisfy my own curiosity.
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.
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.
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- 139 posts total
@lewm , I looked into static electricity meters. The ones used in industry are very expensive and hard to justify. Charge levels that are not painfully obvious are of little consequence. I have found subjective findings good enough for our purposes. I am fortunate to have a wonderful static generating machine, the vacuum clamping mechanism of my turntable. On removing untreated records from the platter you can see the sparks jump if the lights are down as well as hear them. The grounded sweep arm will discharge to upper surface but not the lower one. This led me to develop a record cleaning solution that prevents the formation of static. It works a treat as the British would say, but it is only appropriate for use with vacuum cleaning machines. Air drying will leave too much residue on the record and you will see it collect on the stylus. Vacuum drying leaves so little the stylus remains clean. I also think the records are quieter after treatment. Once I get my act together I'll make before and after files for comparison. |
The felt platter, which is what I think you have on the Cosmos, is a great electron donor to vinyl. The meter I had in mind is the Simco that our colleague who contributed to this thread uses. I think he has the FMX-004. There is also a less expensive model, the FMX-003. The only difference I can see is the max voltage read out by the 004 vs the 003, but since the 003 reads up to 20kV, that should suffice for anything we see with vinyl. (I also would like to check the ES charge on my Sound Labs, a good way to find out if both channels are equally biased.) Here's an FMX-003 on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/275518216469?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D248665%26meid%3D54f895ce0dbf4a1d8059a16a83cec357%26pid%3D101195%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D155516038959%26itm%3D275518216469%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv11WebTrimmedV3MskuWithLambda85KnnRecallV1V4V6ItemNrtInQueryAndCassiniVisualRankerAndBertRecallAndPBoosterV3b&_trksid=p2047675.c101195.m1851&amdata=cksum%3A27551821646954f895ce0dbf4a1d8059a16a83cec357%7Cenc%3AAQAIAAABUOF2C1v4PvLuUMt94LTx3USaOPJBiGrcV6%252Fms53nuTmrZ3dyQNOibl5UuvBUL5wYmcuhlieo3faZqx%252BhFc6Ti9XirkkCUJ2LfxVb%252B9nxabunfUYGsMpL1Y%252FxmkjPHNCqMgXo2ECai9wWaAOy6fJOFjRCwPHh%252BH0ouSMEB6S0NGvSlSg%252FHADMuZz%252BNI2Yxdx1t43fQBuFhL5VzDwa38JFEG%252F8VtZb2khf%252B40gs0Z9RznWp5wOnqVX8gUdcKs0NKlVxMutdoBBDdT56eF6LBGV4G1m85OFH4osKIZVGtVEodRJmpkjCFUqoTEtJX3PUs%252Btd2YwZ%252B3ce4410P86H5ZIENEOunCU5Uk9pkuB9wuqqfzXX%252BLOix5y8V4%252B78g6%252BXRtP3W2SBcDYiJzyaVNSXUBfTw3K92KVdu8QW0fMCfsw%252Frf23jZPQn%252B3Wi8iFXvbZG9%252Fg%253D%253D%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A2047675 |
- 139 posts total