All Things Vinyl - Records That Is.

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Originally Posted by iamnotafraid

To anyone reading this. If you get nothing more from
my thread than this, it is to...

Buy yourself a MILTY ZEROSTAT 3 ANIT-STATIC GUN.

Although it cost usually between $75 and $100 dollars.
I'd say it is worth every penny.

I'll admit after planning to get back to vinyl for a few years
now. That I was depressed by what I was hearing. It had
been so long since I listened to vinyl that I was wondering if
I'd sort of romanced the idea of it. And wound up fooling myself.

That crackling sound I was hearing, had it always been there?
I'm not talking about the clicks and pops one would expect
from scratches on the vinyl.

Was it my equipment? Cleaning solutions, or my applications
of it? It's easy to understand why cleaning a record would induce
static electricity. But could it really be the reason I was hearing
that horrible sound?

Well, turns out it definitely was. I can't tell you how relieved I
was. After receiving the anti-static gun Monday I anxiously used
it (proper use takes practice). And on the very first listen I could
tell the difference. What a relief!

The other major thing I did was to replace the Pro Ject Carbon's
felt mat with a rubber mat from my old JVC turntable. It was also
contributing to the build up of static electricity. You could tell by
the way the felt mat wanted to lift every time you removed the
vinyl from the platter.

For whatever reason my body seems to carry some sort of odd
electrical current. Sounds like a joke, but it's true. If there's
someone who's going to get shocked or give one - it's me. So
that was the other contributing factor in all of this.

'Tis crazy this hobby.

Get yourself a carbon fiber brush, too, if you haven't one. They're anti-static and they clean your records. It is essential, in my opinion. Like this one:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...C&A=details&Q=

This video shows the brush being moved to the edge, but I always slide mine towards the center label, as suggested by the guys at the store where I bought it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n36kUZTo3s