Vinyl static ionizers who's used them?

rhg3

109 posts

07-02-2023 at 02:19pm

FWIW, I’ve had great luck eliminating static with this:

https://www.hudsonhifi.com/products/vinyl-record-cleaning-arm-anti-static-brush-for-vinyl-records-adjustable-record-player-cleaner-arm-for-turntables-anti-static-vinyl-brush-w-carbon-fiber-center-bristles-lp-record-accessories-1?_pos=9&_sid=ab75f2974&_ss=r

I’m glad it worked for you because mine is adding static. I’ve tried grounding to various spots and even tried a 9V battery inline to add some positive, ( thought it would be an idea that would make me rich LOL) but the action of the brush is adding static I really want it to work because it works great to remove dust before it hits the stylus.

My next experiment will involve a carbon fiber mat and grounding the platter with a central conductor ball bearing mounted in the spindle bearing housing. As it is now my platter assembly has no path to ground. I’ll bet that most do not.  My platter is steel.  Might not be possible with acrylic platters.

I check static by hanging some toilet paper and seeing how the record pulls it or not.  The zerostat will neutralize the record but it does seem that some static builds up again while playing.  Makes sense to me that it's from the stylus.

And I like using those silicon rollers to remove dust but that action also causes static.  I don't like those antistat brushes.  I think they push stuff into the grooves.  

Can anyone explain how a brush might, theoretically, remove static? If the bristles were conductive and grounded I could see a mechanism, but not otherwise. That may be pure ignorance on my part!

@ossicle2brain adding static? That’s unfortunate. I attached the ground lead to my phono and it works great. Then again my platter is definitely not steel. I’ve got a Michell Gyrodec SE. My tonearm (SME M2 9R) is also grounded to phono.

Antins’ post above references an article by James Kogen that discusses sources of static — Pg 44 (of 124). The stylus does not appear to be a culprit.

@dogberry if you are referring to the Hudson Hifi anti static brush, it is indeed grounded. And there is a dark colored bristle that I suspect is conductive.

https://youtu.be/MKjfZrZ3gY8

@ossicle2brain the only other adjustment I can think to experiment with is the weight adjustment for the brush.