Vinyl LP care. Anything else I need to know about?

[chebby]

I use a Shure SFG-2 stylus tracking force balance to set the weight accurately, I use an Ortofon carbon fibre record brush (very lightly) for loose dust.

Every record that I buy second hand, I get cleaned on the shop's Keith Monks machine whether it looks like it needs it or not.

I have a box of brand new anti-static inner sleeves to re-sleeve every brand new and s/h record.

I brush my stylus regularly.

Not asking for ideas because of any particular problems with vinyl replay (so far, so good with no nasties yet on any s/h or new disks) but I have seen many discussions mention religious use of Zerostats and 'Disco Antistats' and all sorts of gizmos and potions etc. Do people use these 'armories' of gadgets because of particular problem disks or because they are essential to every record user? What am I missing?

Does the Zerostat actually improve anything or is it a gimmick? What does static sound/look like? Would I see little lightning storms going on under the lid or what? I bought the new sleeves as a 'hygiene' measure so that I am not getting old cr@p back on newly KM'ed second hand purchases rather than because they happen to be 'anti-static' as such.

A Zerostat is 40 quid (half a Denon DL-110 or two new 180gm LPs!) so should I get one?

Feel free to discuss/argue about record care in general. I will doubtless learn something I never knew before 🙂

Thanks

 

[Tear Drop]

Zerostat really does work, the best static killer I've ever used. £40 may seem steep but they last for years. My oldest one (I have two) is around 8 years old and still going strong.

 

[Anonymous]

Many years ago, when I still used vinyl, I had a zerostat and it worked very well. It ought to work a lot better than the brush, which is only going to drain the static off the places it actually touches.

Prices have gone up a lot since then if they're 40 quid now!

For records, static will show up as a tendancy for dust/sleeves to cling to the record.

If you want to see (and maybe hear?) static, try opening a self-stick envelope in a completely dark room - you'll probably see static discharges along the adhesive strip between the flap and the bit it was stuck to as the adhesive parts (at the point where it's parting).

 

[chebby]

OK 2 votes (so far) for a Zerostat.

I don't get that static cling from inner sleeves but, as I said, I recently invested in a box of antistatic inner sleeves.

I never got a carbon fibre brush for reasons of removing static either. Just got it for removing light surface dust.

I have not noticed any of that staticky, 'hairs raising on the hand' feeling you used to get from the front of a CRT television screen. Maybe I am a very grounded person 🙂

I may try that envelope adhesive thing one day for a laugh.

 

[DistortedVision]

Make that 3 votes for Zerostat. I've had mine for several years and it works great. In fact only a few evenineam s ago I played a record that I just cleaned. (See my Steam Cleaning Records thread) and I played and was very disappointed by the amount of pop and crackles. Then I realised I forgot to use my Zerostat on it. Doing so all the pops and crackles vanished.

I also stongly recommend the Onzow Zerodust for cleaning your stylus:

http://www.shadowaudio.co.uk/index.php?main_page=shop_product_info&products_id=995

They aren't cheap but well worth it and last a lifetime. You can get it half the UK RRP from a eBay seller in Japan (they ar made there):

http://cgi.ebay.com/STYLUS-TIP-CLEANER-ZERO-DUST-by-ONZOW.-FREE-SHIPPING_W0QQitemZ230281292631QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20080815?IMSfp=TL08081513113r37501

Hope this helps.