A friend just uses a large silk handkerchief. I've seen undyed ones for $2.

I don't understand why some high end turntables don't come with dustcovers - obviously they are necessary. And it is silly how much some aftermarket dustcovers cost - especially when they are just a piece of plastic that aren't connected or hinged to the turntable (and therefore you have to have a clear space handy to set it down, when you start or stop a record). (and then awkardly clunk the tonearm when you put it back in place).
Sounds like a DIY project if interested. Hmm, a lightweight aluminium rod frame, with ripstop nylon, or silk, stretched over it. that should be pretty non-resonant.A handle in the center top for one-handed lift...

This sounds like a decent business plan: Start making clear plastic 5-sided boxes of different sizes to fit over a TT. They wouldn't be as pretty as some of the others out there, but just as effective. And much, much cheaper.

There is a guy on audiogon who does custom covers for about $100 and the quality is top notch!

Here is his contact info:
Norman Cones: tpinorman@ameritech.net

Take a look at Gingko.

You can email them about you model and see how much it would be for a cover.

I use a Gingko on one of my record players and am very happy.

http://www.gingkoaudio.com/claravu.html

Arr. They charge $7 each for a racquetball (for their platforms). Available in both green and blue!

Racquetballs retail for about $1 each. That's too much markup for me.
Green and blue are the most common colors of racquetballs. There are also reds and blacks out there. Wonder if Ginko might be offering those as an extra cost option...

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I don't understand why some high end turntables don't come with dustcovers - obviously they are necessary. .

Dust covers used whilst playing LP's act like drums adding a nasty form of feedback.
It took me years to relax playing LP's 'naked' but it does sound better.
Simply use a piece of silk to cover the platter section shaking any dust off it whenever you remove it. Be careful however it doesn't get anywhere near one of those fragile moving coils and snag the stylus.

I use a thin layer of linen over my VPI Scout. If you need the protection of a plastic cover to keep animals and kids away from the table, any local plastic fabrication shop can build one. Plastic does scratch and you don't want to play records with a dustcover in place. Depending on your concerns over appearance, try a shop like The Container Store before you have something built. You can probably find a storage bin that will fit over your table for far less than even a plastic's shop will charge to custom build a piece. Or you can go the other way and head down to the local welding shop and have something really butch with spikes and chains on it faricated to your order. HGTV would redo you entire room with a nautical themed look for under $500 and replace the turntable with some god-awfull looking thing they pulled off the curbing and painted gold. The Car Talk guys from NPR would tell you to replace the heat shield.

Linen is a good conductor for static electricity.

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Quote:
I don't understand why some high end turntables don't come with dustcovers - obviously they are necessary. .

Dust covers used whilst playing LP's act like drums adding a nasty form of feedback.
It took me years to relax playing LP's 'naked' but it does sound better.
....

I have a hinged dustcover on my turntable (thankfully), and I have been unable to hear any difference with it up or down or removed entirely. I do place 2 things on top of the closed dust cover while it is playing, to help damp resonances (one thing is a sandbag, about 2 lbs., the other - well, it happens to be a plush stuffed walrus toy. I do this even though I don't think I hear any resulting difference. I figure it helps prevent/lessen acoustic feedback, anyway.

Maybe I'll adopt the walrus as my audio accessory nom de plume - like Buddha and his Buddha.

I am the Walrus. Coo Coo ca choo.

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Linen is a good conductor for static electricity.

So are my socks when they come out of the dryer.

Socks aren't linen.

Oh, well ...

I guess that was my point.

I'm loosely covering the table with the cloth, LS, I'm not wiping it down or rubbing the linen over my LP's before I play them. I remember one magazine running an article that detailed the amount of static electric charge that could be generated by a plastic dustcover and it was sufficient to alter the tracking force of the tonearm. Of course the tester had to apply quite a bit of wiping to the dustcover to get to this point and the effect was rather shortlived but that wasn't the point of the article.

I would guess the disc has more static electricity attached to its surface just by the motion of being pulled from the sleeve than would be there from my removing the cloth from the top of my table. You can correct me if you think differently but I would say we're talking about how many cups of sacharine a day does it take to give a lab mouse cancer.

Let's meet half way and say cover it with dryer sheets taped together. Or spray the linen cloth with Aqua Net.

If static electricity can take down The Hindenburg than there is no telling what it can do to a turntable.

I have a removable dustcover, custom made. The original TT had an option to get a hinged one, but I got the TT second-hand and it came without one. The cover is removed during play and replaced when done playing LPs.

Once someone tried to replace the cover while it was playing, hit the rear of the tonearm, lifted the arm up and dropped it onto the LP - hard! This generated a huge hollow-sounding thump from the speakers, blowing both speaker fuses, fortunately.

Let me know when you're coming over, LS, and I'll rush out to buy the hairspray.