Carbon Fiber Brush with Milty Gun?

Dear Ghosthouse, these instructions slightly differ from the earliest zerostat method which was :

- Hold the Zerostat, centred, 12" away from the LP.
- Squeeze the trigger slowly over a period of 5 secs.
- Hold for 2 secs
- Release over a period of 5 secs.
- Repeat for the other side of the LP.

The "slowness" of the action was intended to prevent sudden discharge - the idea being that you shouldn't hear any sound from the gun at all.
In practice this doesn't always hold up but at least you tried! ;^)
If it does discharge suddenly just ignore it and keep doing what you were doing.

Dear Margot,
If the LP has a good anti-static sleeve I simply place the LP directly on the T/T (after briefly checking for any large flecks of paper. If there are I just flick it off with something soft and lint free. I never wipe the whole surface).
During the changeover I zap both sides once.
After playing the LP there's no need for further zapping. I put it directly back into it's anti-static sleeve and then back into sealed cabinets which have glass doors for viewing the titles.

Those 3 items, the Zerostat, the anti-static sleeve and good storage, are your best weapons for keeping your new LPs clean. The Zerostat does not "clean" the item as some may suggest but it does reduce it's attraction for dirt.

Obviously, it goes without saying that if an LP visibly or audibly needs deep cleaning you should do it but no need to become OCD if it doesn't require it.
Kind regards,

Hi Ghosthouse,
Not to worry m8. Mine cracks at least once per LP no matter how slowly it's driven. I even know a few folk who went further and used "rapid fire" all over the disc surface.
That method probably still works ok - just wears out the gun faster(!) ;^)

...and the prices have escalated considerably in the last 3 or 4 decades. Bring back the £6-99 price tag! :D

Dear Whart,
There is an alternative to the gun. During flipping just put the LP back in its anti-static sleeve for a short while then remove it again. That would help to neutralise the charge?

A good practical test of the gun's effectiveness is when the kid's hair has been brushed and is so charged that it is standing on end and strongly attracted to nearby objects. Zap it with the gun and it will fall flat instantly. Pass your hand close to the hair, no attraction whatsoever. ;^)
In retrospect probably best not to encourage them with the gun... :) :)

speaking of bare feet you've reminded me of my worst static experience...
Arriving earliest for work I had the duty of switching all the fluorescent lights on. The switch panel was outside the old fashioned office in a long corridor...
The panel consisted of banks of chromed toggle switches and the panel itself was chromed steel.
As I reached for the switch all the static charge for miles along those corridors erupted through me and sparked onto the earthed panel. An analogy is when driving a perfectly balanced mid-engined sports car you can feel the communication of each tyre? Well, on that day I could feel the charge rushing from the farthest reaches of the carpet and funnelling through me in one mighty discharge. My trouser legs must have been flapping! A lesson learned.
An even worse one I'd heard about was the unfortunate guy who decided to take a leak on the synthetic hull of a boat. That makes mine pale by comparison! Talk about St.Elmo's Fire!! :D :D

Dear Lew,
This procedure sounded like they were almost trying to demag the LP! It’s a bit elaborate is it not? I can only point back to the example of discharging kids hair. The process would not have been served by withdrawing or re-directing the gun elsewhere.

Can’t believe Heathrow Security were so backward in the 70s !
(Nearly “everyone” was a “proper” hifi enthusiast back then ;^)

I appreciate your views on the anti-static bags and admit that I have on occasions shared your suspicion,however,
check out these illustrations of product descriptions for Nagaoka & Goldring LP sleeves as quoted from their own advertising :

“Nagaoka have treated their record sleeves using an innovative static prevention process to eliminate static electricity, making this product a must have for vinyl lovers.”

“Using Goldring anti static sleeves neutralizes the static charge thus rendering the record inert and improving the level of noise.”

I’ve always assumed they are similar to (although clearly cheaper and thinner than) the anti-static bags used for sensitive electronic components and printed circuit boards, and that the coating allowed gradual equalisation of the charge?
Kind regards,

Lew.
After scouring the Web for a full 5 minutes I managed to find a photograph of what I believe is an original procedure...(?)

(Scroll down to the second post on this page...)

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=285929&page=3

The discharging process probably isn't quite as precise as we'd like to think i.e. that those displaced positive and negative ions are nailed into position and won't budge when we use conflicting clouds of negative & positive ions. If they're available they probably just randomly grab them then repeat if opposite charge is required. But my gut feeling is not so much based on a complete grasp of science, more on the number "42". :) ;^)
Cheers,

Indeed Margot, I would think the ion "stream" would find the platter spindle to be the most attractive target.

By way of illustration, if you examined an open-reel tape deck rewinding a tape, in complete darkness, you would see very fine miniature "lightnings" i.e. continuous thin filaments of electrical energy literally crawling all over the reels and tape heading for the grounded hub. Same sort of thing as you'd see in a Van der Graaf generator.
If the gun were close enough it would probably produce a spark.

Whart is clearly the most sensible guy here :D :D
...although I'd be even more concerned about the phono stage input when there are high voltages floating around.

Having said this, cantilevers must be soaking up static discharges from LPs that have a real tendency to build up charge. Despite this, phono stages always manage to smile through it. ;^)
Like the others I cannot recall any extreme practical circumstance where failure occurred but it could be the case that a zerostat-type event may have happened to someone and they never attributed or discovered the cause?

Can't argue with that, Slaw ;^)

Although they say the KL machine has all the advantages of the AD but is developing a greater reputation for reliability. The only problem I can see with the KL is the 3K asking price :O

Don't think I haven't thought about it...I've been drooling over these things for some time ;^)
Best regards,

Sorry FM....I should have put the £ sign in front of that number. (Even then the dealers would probably charge us £4K these days...)
:(