Zero Stat Gun


How do you use this thing? Very confused, i think i may just have wasted money, could have bought 3 records for somewhere instead of staring dumb founded at the record wondering why i still hear the static after using the gun.

Does that little cover have to be on or off? What is the proper way to use the gun?
128x128thegoldenear
As Dan_Ed, Dcstep and I have all suggested, your snap, crackle and pop problem is very unlikely to be caused by static.

Want to prove it? Just do what Dcstep said: zap them with the Zerostat until the hairs on the back of your arm don't stand up when you pass the record over them. Then play it. If it's still noisy the problem isn't static.

Again, the two most likely causes are:
1) dirt still in the grooves and,
2) groove damage from previous plays.

You can fix #1 but #2 is permanent, and it can be caused by #1 because playing a record dirty inevitably causes damage. You can't drag dirt through a plastic groove with a super-sharp diamond chisel without damaging the plastic.

You said (on the other thread) that you're playing records you received from previous owners.

A. Did the original owners play these records without cleaning? If so, they may be damaged and never play silently again.

B. Did the original owners play these records on inexpensive or poorly adjusted rigs? If so, they may be damaged and will never play silently again.

I have a pretty typical collection for long time posters here, around 4,000 records. 3,500 of those play very quietly, perhaps more quietly than you'd believe if you've never heard a good vinyl setup.

The noisy 500 are mostly my own high school and college records from the 1970's and 1980's. Those were all played without cleaning, sometimes on very modest equipment by a guy who had little idea what he was doing, other than enjoying the music of course. Most of them will never play quietly again. Dirt got ground against the grooves during mulitiple plays and ruined the vinyl, or the rig itself ruined the vinyl. The only way for me to get a quiet copy is to buy another one.

It's not a matter of age. I have records from the 1950's and early 1960's that are dead quiet, because they were always well treated.

You're right of course that there are many ways of cleaning records. Pick one, try it and see if the results satisfy. You have to start somewhere.

Doug

P.S. I'd suggest buying, cleaning and playing at least one brand new LP, just to have a reference for what a quiet surface sounds like.
I complete second Dougdeacon's response. What you are hearing has 99% likely nothing to do with static. As Doug state with static you would hear a very loud pop only every few revolutions.

What you DO hear is dirt in the grooves or possibly even groove damage.

There is an old misconception that crackle on pop on records is called static which is a completely incorrect usage of the term for vinyl (unlike static on the radio).
ok lots of questions to answer here so bare with me.

YES all the records in question are from family who YES never took care of them.

My collection on the other hand have always been cared for and have no problems.

I set myself out on a task to get some of these records back to be at least some what listenable. Reason being i found some gems, now i am dumb when it comes to cleaning records because honestly i store my records properly and really just brush them with the HUNT cleaning brush and at one point used permastat anti static preservation which i believe could be why MY collection is very quiet and enjoyable to listen too. Now anything new i buy i just use the HUNT brush and then a little gruv glide for static because it kinds does everything all around. I couldn't find permastat so i went to gruv glide but i found permastat again so when i run out of gruv glide i will return to permastat.

I do not have a record cleaning machine so what is the alternative to getting all that crap out of the grooves?

And guys thanks so much for your help, oh and what kept me thinking it was static was taking the terms snap crackle and pop literally.

Thanks for clearing that up for me.

and my rig is as follows

Primare I21 CD 21
Thiel 1.6
Music Hall MMF5
Music Hall pa1.2
Kimber Kable Interconnects
Monster Mseries 2.2 (will upgrade soon, Harvey closed there store on LI and I pick them up (20 ft pair) for 163 bucks.

Fablous sound so its really annoying to listen to dirty records on a nice modest system.

HELP!!!!
Disc Doctor Record Cleaning system is one of the best non-machine solutions.

Dave