Carbon Fiber Brush with Milty Gun?

The last time I read about THE way to use the gun (after the brush, by the way), you squeeze and release a couple of times with the gun about 12 inches over the surface of the LP, taking care not to induce the gun to "click". Then, with the trigger fully depressed, you slowly move the gun away from the LP, point it in a different direction, and THEN slowly release the trigger. Seems to me that if you release the trigger over the LP, you return the LP surface to its original charged state. The net effect would be zero.

Story: I still use an anti-static gun I purchased in England in the 70s. Those were the early years of terrorist attacks and airline hi-jacking. When I tried to carry the gun on board the plane for my flight home, I was detained by security at Heathrow, until I proved to them that the gun could not actually fire bullets.

Moonglum, I do not think an "anti-static" sleeve has powers to dissipate existing charge; I think the term infers that inserting and removing the LP will not per se charge the LP surface.

There is no aspect of the vinyl ritual about which I can't learn something new. Yes, I think you're supposed to zap the LP before mounting it on the platter, but I never bother to do that. So, if the spindle is soaking up ions, perhaps I am achieving nothing. Occasionally, you can hear a crackle through the speaker, if the gun is held too close to the cartridge (which happened to me just last night). But I perceive no evidence that the cartridge can be damaged by the gun.

If I can find the reference to support the notion that the gun should be held away from the LP surface whilst releasing the trigger, at the end of the de-static process, I will post it here. Suffice to say I did not make it up off the top of my head, but that does not make it right, necessarily.

Just out of interest this weekend, I brushed an LP with my Audioquest Anti-static brush, (as I always do), then played it without having used the Zerostat on it (as I usually do). When I then went to remove the LP from the platter, there was detectable attraction between it and the (Kenwood L07D stainless steel) platter mat, plus lots of crackling sounds. This does not happen after using Zerostat. However, I detected no problems while actually listening to the LP. (So much for the notion that the Audioquest brush has any real "anti-static" effect, too.)

Moonglum, Re your reference to the effect of electrostatic build-up on the cantilever, if one examines the cartridge in the area above and to the sides of the cantilever/stylus assembly, one can always see a local accumulation of dust or dirt, after playing several LPs. I don't know whether those particles concentrate in that area due to ES attraction or not, but it certainly makes sense.