Static Electricity and Your Vinyl Records

The obvious solution is to devise a method which would allow us to restore and or maintain our records in a non-charged state. If we can remove this charge or prevent it from occurring, we will have gone a long way toward solving our record cleaning problems. Our findings become particularly significant when we also realize that the ability of records to acquire and hold static charges varies according to the humidity in the atmosphere. A relatively high humidity tends to inhibit the formation of static electricity. in general, no cleaning device should ever be applied to a record in a dry state or static will be automatically generated. With the single exception of the washing process for contaminated records, any fluid applied to the record surface is potentially harmful, and if any sign of wetness appears of the surface of the record under treatment the cleaning device is too moist and should not be used in that condition. We must adapt our record cleaning procedures to suit individual circumstances, i.c., relative humidity, record playing equipment and local atmospheric conditions. What will suffice under one set of circumstances might be inadequate in another.

Static charge can be induced in a variety of ways. For example, it may occur during the pressing process when the record is being made or when using a dry cloth to clean a record, even removing your vinyl record from its sleeve is enough to induce a static charge under certain conditions but it can also result from simply playing the record. Once the static charge is formed it acts like a magnet and will attract airborne dust and dirt, as well as small solid particles from anything within the immediate vicinity of the record. Static charges occur when the plastic material of the record becomes negatively charged, that is, when it gains electrons as a result of the friction between it and the cleaning cloth, stylus or record sleeve. Since the vinyl material from which the records are made is a dielectric or non-conductor it will tend to hold and maintain this charge and thus attract dust and dirt.

Older record cleaning techniques overcame the static problem by applying various anti-static fluids to the surface of the record, usually by means of a sponge, spray or impregnated cloth. They had, and still have their uses with higher tracking forces 5 grams or more. These substances so applied were often viscous, such as grease or gel, and they performed a useful function, in that a film was produced which limited the external field of that static charge and therefore reduced its power to attract airborne dust and dirt. It did not however discharge this static. An added advantage of these anti-static films was that they acted as a lubricant between the grooves of the vinyl record and the stylus thus reducing record ware with the higher tracking forces being used. However, with lightweight tracking forces the stylus is no longer able to go through this film or push it aside but rather rides over it resulting in improper tracking with distorted reproduction and a new kind of surface noise. In addition, an anti-static film will, with repeated applications result in a sticky or smeary condition which produces a holding or bonding action within the grooves of the record making subsequent removal of dirt and dust is much more difficult. The Ultra-lightweight tracking of today's high compliance pick-up cartridges with their greatly reduced tip and moving mass can only be accomplished if the grooves of the record are almost antiseptically clean, uncontaminated even by micro-dust or pollution of any kind or by any film or deposit of anti-static substances. Once we understand these factors we are in a much better position to do something about it.

Vinyl Record Care and Maintenance
Cleanliness is absolutely mandatory if the optimum sound capability of the vinyl record is to be realized. A clean record will not only sound better, but last longer. It has long been proven that repeated playing of dirty phonograph records can cause permanent damage to the vinyl. Preservation of your valuable or irreplaceable records requires careful cleaning. Not to mention that stylus wear is greatly accelerated by playing dirty records, and with high price of cartridges these days, playing dirty records can lead to significant and unneeded expense.

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Cleanliness is absolutely mandatory to achieve the best sound quality of your vinyl records. A clean vinyl record will not only sound better, but last longer. It has long been proven that the playing of dirty records will result in a rapid deterioration of quality and degradation of the original recorded sound, or simply can cause permanent damage to your vinyl records.
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