I'm deliberately going to throw a wet blanket on putting an anti-static liquid on LPs.
If you're tempted,
don't! I did back in the mid, late 70's, early 80's using a product named Permastat. I applied it according to directions, giving the LP a light spritz from the bottle and spreading/smoothing it around the surface with a very soft brush provided in the kit.
Here's the aftermath: your stylus will now pickup gobs of gunk, dust and possibly even solvent loosened particles of vinyl which collect around the stylus tip, eventually causing distortion. So the tip needs cleaning after every play. Think about it - you put on this liquid which collects crud which is being dragged through the grooves, akin to scraping the delicate grooves from friction. It negates static but that stylus buildup can't be good for the health and longevity of the grooves. It creates a micro-sticky residue.
That's not all. I used it on a number of stereo and CD-4 LPs, including some audiophile pressings by Mofi, Sheffield Labs. And within a few years, some of them started to play with
more not less noise. Fast forward some and I started noticing the vinyl had tiny pits in the grooves. Literally, the Permastat was either eating into the vinyl or bacteria/fungus growing in the microscopic layer in the grooves was. At no time were the LP's stored in a humid basement, attic etc. I have stored my LPs correctly, in temp controlled audio/video rooms in only 2 houses. The pitting got worse with time, rendering them nearly unlistenable with noise, distortion. Literally, every stereo & CD-4 LP I used Permastat on were ruined, pits getting larger over years, clearly visible and very noisy playback. I have hundreds of stereo & quad LPs in my collection which I didn't use Permastat on; still in great shape and near-new & great playback, even after ~40 yrs! And all those I used Permastat on were trashed & unlistenable.
I've managed to replace most of my prized ruined ones off Ebay; bought 3 used Sheffield Labs and was very lucky they were in fantastic shape, near-new playback. I even managed to find decent, if not great, CD4 replacements that are at least playable. But I haven't been so fortunate trying to replace ~4 CD4 titles over the past 10 yrs and I've tried several used ones off Ebay; every one was so bad/worn/abused they're barely listenable; probably played with an cheap TT & elliptical stylus or stored in basements or attics. I may try one more time to replace these but not hopeful. I think I'm SOL.
Lesson is - please be careful. Don't blanket believe marketing BS on record antistatic/preservative products.
You may find you made a mistake and regret it like me
. These are organic polymers, surfactants and/or lubricants. Would you put a synthetic lubricant like WD40 on your records? Based on my experience, the only liquids that belong on vinyl are record cleaners and water!
If you want an antistat, get one of the ion "guns" like a Milty Zerostat. I have a Zerostat also from the 70's, I think it might have been sold by Discwasher back then but same gun. That works and won't damage your records. All these liquids are a crapshoot since 1) the companies never tell you the ingredients and 2) you'd have to have some basic knowledge of what the ingredients did based after looking up the specific of polymer/surfactant/lubricant components. I was in the water treatment industry for 37 yrs so did have a working knowledge of what the specific polymers were for. Add to that, did the company just do a literature search, buy the chemical(s) and blend them? Have they done long-term (10-20-30 yrs) testing & storage to back-up their claim that their product doesn't harm or degrade the vinyl? I doubt it! At best, maybe the company may do months or a year with the treated vinyl in storage with random inspections and playback to ensure the integrity of the vinyl before marketing it. Do you want to put trust or blind faith putting unknown chemicals with unknown long-term effects on a collection of sometimes irreplaceable records from the quad era? I did and it was big mistake.
And take a read on these links. I know I'll NEVER use an antistatic liquid/record preservative again, regardless of the company or their claims.
https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/removing-permastat-from-albums.96827/
https://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?48973-Permastat-WTF
https://www.stereo.net.au/forums/topic/113007-record-cleaningantistatic-aerosol-spray-1970s/
I know some swear by these products and say they haven't harmed the records but some have seen the long-term effects and want to remove it.
