Found a Milty Zerostat alternative

What a great investment my zerostat has been! Still efficiently removing static 43 years later. Pressing and releasing it slowly so as not to hear any clicks has always been the way I’ve done it and I believe the way that was originally recommended. If I do hear a click, I start over. Static is definitely a problem. Here in Tulsa in the winter. There are times when running my whole house humidifier all the time I still can’t get the humidity to 40%. I don’t know what others have found, but I recently got an acrylic mat and it seems to add the least charge compared to felt, rubber, and cork.

Thiis was a great read.  I've continuously wondered if my old Zerostats were still working.  I got the first one probably in 1970 and 2 more since then. I've also had reasonable results with the Walker Audio Talisman   I remember a tiny spark on the first one, I also have a felt mat that I also zap (off the TT) such that it does not cling to the vinyl. For me it's the tried and true method - obviously along with clean record and stylus. 

This is discussion is very curious. It seems very unlike the “cables don’t matter” where are religious deniers chime in to protest a well documented and known effect. The folks that have experienced Zerostat  being effective and not seem to be deeply experienced and credible… but have had the completely opposite experience. And generally deep experiences. Like mine, having tried using these over 30 or 40 years many times, and having no effect whatsoever. Then there is the group that find them extremely effective. Makes me wonder if half of them work and half of them don’t work. I don’t know very strange.

I have a highly experienced dealer friend, who completely agrees with me, never been of any value whatsoever.

@lewm  @ghdprentice 

I found the box in which my most recent Zerostat 3 came. Here are the instructions:

Hold Zerostat about 300mm (12 inches) away from the object. Squeeze the trigger slowly; a powerful stream of positive ions projects over a spread about 400mm (16 inches). Release it slowly, and negative ions are produced.

I also found the box for an original Zerostat that no longer works. Its instructions read:

(1) Hold the pistol 250 to 500mm (10 to 20 inches) from the surface to be treated, pointing directly at it.

(2) Slowly squeeze the trigger, taking about two seconds to do so. Positive charges thus produced will neutralize any local negative charges.

(3) After a pause of two seconds, slowly release the trigger, again taking about two seconds. Negative charges produced by this action will neutralize positive surface charges.

(4) Large, heavily charged areas may require several operations for complete neutralization.

In these instructions for the original Zerostat, there are further notes, including:

Too rapid operation of the trigger may cause an internal sparking which is indicated by an audible "click." This does no damage to the Zerostat but will limit the amount of ions produced during the operation. Occasionally, the "click" may sound during normal slow operation but should be ignored.

Use of elaborate electrostatic measuring equipment shows that Zerostat discharges a phonograph disc best when the final "motion" is a trigger squeeze, and the trigger is then released pointed away from the disc.

NOTE: Records may be treated whle on the turntable, but due to the earthed platter, a "tabled" disc may need three-to-five squeeze/release operations.

(For those who don’t know, "earthed" is how the British say "grounded.")

So those notes from the original Zerostat may account for the method I’ve used, since I’ve generally used it with the LP on the turntable. But I think the Zerostat 3 I have works fine with the later instructions, at least when holding the LP by hand.