Vinyl foibles

@mylogic 

The mystery is that I do take good care of my records. I have floor to ceiling record shelves. A degritter. Brushes and anti-static guns. I learned to hold records by their edges when I was a kid. If I lower the stylus too quickly and it jumps when it lands, which I hardly ever do, I will remember that for the rest of my life. That's why I cannot figure out why my records do get ticks or even a few scratches that the Degritter cannot remove.

I have records from he early seventies that sound fine. I talked to a high-end dealer years ago and asked him about this phenomenom. He said it happened to others too. His theory was that vinyl is much softer now than it used to be. Who knows? I have read a study by a guy who said there is no one vinyl recipe. Different companies mix their vinyl differently.

@audio-b-dog wow. That's a lot of expensive gear (to die for/kill for, whatever inappropriate comments)

I can certainly see a smaller system can sound better, and easier to handle.

(btw: what was the point?)

I think the point is that 1) this hobby is not one-size fits all. It depends on the user, no matter how much money they have; 2) gather ye rosebuds...

Thanks to @audio-b-dog  for starting this thread.  Sorry to take it back to the static subject, but I really relate to the OP’s issues and what he has faced with static. I live in CO and the air is dry and the furnace dries it out even more in the winter – so much so that I cannot even think of playing a record.  I too have a VPI, Prime Signature with a Fatboy and will look at the suggestion of using plastic screws on the finger-lift.  I had a static charge that when I touched the finger-lift it blew out my Cadenza Black and my PSA Steller Phono Pre.  I didn’t realize that the Cadenza was toast, so after PS Audio replaced the complete guts of the Pre, and when I got it back the cart blew the Pre’s board out again.  The Cadenza must have shorted or something internally.  So, PS Audio replaced it again (and so many thanks for them – they did this under warranty!), and I replaced the Cadenza with my 2M Black.  Still haven’t repaired or replaced the Cadenza ☹.

After all this, I have since tried to remember to ground myself before touching the finger-lift because I still get a TON of static.  I use Mo-Fi sleeves, I use my Furutech DStat III, an Audioquest Carbon brush before every play and still get static pops and a mess of dust on the record, even after cleaning on the VPI RCM.   I will try the Hudson brush linked earlier.  Great thread, if nothing more than having someone I can relate to in my struggles.

@audio-b-dog 

@nickthepet 

In the UK. Much rain in winter and high humidity all year. No air con or wood burning fires, no pets and a non smoker. Just a few points to clarify why l may have very low concerns with clicks, pops and noise.

My records have never been on a record cleaning machine, in a degritter or bath. All l may daily use is a velvet hand held pad, or micro-fibre brush. No anti-static guns which l found never audibly made a difference.

One thing that has remained constant is the use of, very occasionally an invention that was very popular in the 70s. A Pixall mkII Record Roller Cleaner. I have found ample supplies of replacement rollers (even from the States) to keep my records clean. I use on demand when l think the dust build up is too great. They are lint based and can even remove finger marks on used records l have bought, and can remove some contaminates out of the qroove if spot cleaning is applied. Coupled with low static lined record inner sleeves if the ones in there when bought are just paper, help maintain my records in good condition. 
 

One other consideration l take into account is playing all my vinyl with my turntables covers down, but that’s an even bigger bone of contention on here. I am sure, taking the music foibles away from the debate, covers down do make sense with less exposure to dust attraction.