Record-playing Rituals?

Jimi,

What would you say is a good humidity for the home in general
I have lots of books and wooden guitars plus those records of mine.

The house is all wood with forced water radient heat under wood planks combined with forced water base boards.

I'm keeping the upstairs loft @ about 45 -50% humidity and about 65 deg where the guitars are kept The loft looks out on a cathedral pine clapboard ceiling peaking at 40 ' .
All together It's a very big room with open space about 1400 sft, I have another humidifier in the L shaped living listening area downstairs. In the winter it often goes below zero outside and as far down as 40 below sucking all the moisture out of the air.

I know humidity affects static as well as mold whadayathink would be good

Thanks
Groovey

ps I saw Jimi a few times' First time on MacDougal St in NYC at the Cafe Wha? Jimi James and the Flames in the daytime drinking dayglo mountain dew Not necessarily stoned just beautiful.

Listening to Stevie Wonder-Fullfillingness' First Finale-Mowtown 2-47075
Spanish Vinyl

Where you are at - 45-55% RH in the entire home is fine for guitars, books, wood, etc. 30% is very low and HUGE static problems arise as well as drying out pretty much everything. Above 70% is just too moist and you may start having mold & moisture problems but probably need 75%+ for that.

So given the largess of you environment it sounds like you are doing GREAT to keep it at 45% RH during the winter (overall). HOWEVER...55-65% in the small area around your turntable area is ideal. I find below 55% RH things start to sound worse due to static build-up and a bit of a drying of other things in the vinyl playback chain.

BEAR IN MIND THOUGH that this is done to mitigate static so at 50-55% RH you can do fine WITHOUT local humidification BUT you need to mitigate static charge build-up. I am trying to investigate this as we head into the winter months. This is why I started a thread inquiring about the NEW Dust Bug performance.

Bear in mind that there are several factors involved - turntable drive type, platter material, platter finish, mat material and vinyl cleaning methods and products used. So this is why everyone has varying degrees of the impact of this problem. Unfortunately my TT materials are pretty bad from a triboelectric perspective so I need to figure out what mitigation options are optimal. Right now I am using local humidity and ionic treatment to keep the problem in check. Humidity has a host of ancillary benefits so it's not a bad way to do it but it's always best to identify all the "static generators" in any system set-up.

Latest empirical data findings:

1) Carbon brush imparts a negative charge on LPs.
2) Static gun (Discwasher) produces produces + (positive) ions on trigger pull and - (negative) ions on trigger release.
3) In lower than 50% RH Static guns WILL charge the LP surface and can produce localized charge regions on LP playing surface side ESPECIALLY if used only 2-3" from record surface (a.k.a. "can do more harm than good if not used in the proper application").
4) To minimize any localized charging on playing surface (i.e. from static gun usage) in environments below 45% RH sweep record with carbon brush. At worst, it will impart a slight negative charge to the LP.
5) At 50% RH or higher it is VERY difficult for the LP to hold a static charge! This also coincides with best music playback (NOT a coincidence!). This also helps the cartridge to perform as well as to last.

"The best way to experience music is to lose your mind and come to your senses."

Ive heard that alchohol is a no no for cleaning but I havent found any real data concening the negative effects. My chemist buddie doesnt think there should be any problems with respect to damaging the vinyl. Does any one have any specific findings on this?

To get dirty/noisy records clean and silent initially, if needed, I give them a good bath using a very low cost but effective procedure that has worked for me for 20 years and my good vinyl still sounds like new. This is a procedure that should only need to be performed once initially per record side if needed.

First I spray them down with a very dilute solution of Shaklee Basic H cleaner in distilled water. I then run my old Discwasher brush around the record while on the turntableto loosen up the dirt. Then I fold a soft and absorbent paper towel to form an absorbent edge to remove the moisture from the record and repeatedly run the edge across the record while turning, re-folding to create a new dry edge as needed, until the record is dry to avoid unwanted dirt deposits accumulating on the stylus.