Options for ridding records of static electricity

@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

Pardon me if this has already been mentioned but...

One way to gauge the static charge on records is this: Take the record to the bathroom. Yes you read that right, the bathroom. Unroll 12.337 inches of the toilet paper from the roll. It must be this length or substandard results will certainly happen. Holding the record parallel to the extended toilet paper note how much the paper is attracted to the record.

Then do whatever you seem fit to make it so the paper doesn’t get pulled onto the record. In my case I use a Milty zerostat while slowly repeating the phrase "Be gone you electron". I think the talking to the record is key to the effectiveness of this method. One day I will try it without the talking and see if it still works.

Ossicle, you obviously stole your method from Merlin.

We just returned from our first trip to Tokyo to visit our son since before the pandemic (4 years ago was out last visit). Pursuant to our new obsession with static charge, I searched for a Furutech Destat III hoping for a significant savings vs US price. You can buy just about any Furutech product at any decent audio salon in Tokyo, EXCEPT the Destat III. They’ve never even heard of it.

I’m about ready to try the brush sweeper grounding arm thingy as suggested by

mijostyn. I was thinking it’s just more stuff to bother with, but as it is my routine is .... take out the record...it always has electric potential as judged by the sensitive toilet paper test even from "non static" sleeves. Shoot it slowly with the Milty. Genuflect. Roll it with a silicon roller, but that adds electrons back so then shoot with the Milty again, concentrate on the breath and being present, then place the vinyl on the platter quickly and close the cover before more crap gets on it and certainly don’t look at it under the microscope because doing that adds more crap. Enjoy the music while imagining the microdust getting under the edges of the dust cover on the air currents destroying all the previous work. Relax if possible.

So maybe it’s just easier to use a sweeper brush arm thing. Maybe I should just give in and accept that digital is "OK" enough.