Can Static Destroy Electronics?

Oh wow.. That’s a bit of news... If you think discharge is an issue. Set up a discharge pad. Touch the pad, don’t shuffle your feet and do your work.. The only proper way to eliminate the problem.. I’ve done a LOT of board level repair.. Just 101 for infant mortality on IC..

I really think something else is going on.. same side? I normally repair one or two circuits before and after. I check, pretty darn close..

Dip switch failure? What the heck caused that.. what is the switch for? Cart load?

STOP... something else is wrong..Spidey senses are all fired up..Something else is going on...

Regards..

Yeah, one setting of the dip switch would ground out the R output channel. No idea why or how. 

Static electricity can cause the pop, but its the pop that blows the stage not the static charge per se. In other words the static charge itself doesn't reach the phono stage. Usually when stoic charges are powerful enough to notice gross pops like this they're messing up the signal pretty much all the time, just not in a way that's obvious until its gone.

Multiple different ways to reduce static charges- Zero Stat, Static Guard and other anti-static sprays (Static Guard is cheap and sold at many grocery stores as well as Amazon), ground wire to bearing/tone arm, grounding brush (a grounded carbon fiber brush that drags across just ahead of the tone arm), and various different mats. slaw I think has one that helps with this as well as being a sound quality improver.

All good things that will improve sound regardless whether or not it was static that blew out that channel. I spray Static Guard over everything on a pretty regular basis and every night when I get out my "special" recordings, for just that extra little something. My static is seldom bad enough to make obvious crackles but its often bad enough to hear improved clarity after spraying.

Should I contact Dynavector? What did I do wrong?

No, static won't do that until you get to the level of a lightening bolt. The pop was whatever blew in your phono amp.