Help me solve static electricity problem

Isn't static at very high voltage?

Yes.

Would a cap simply look like a resistor to a very high voltage...even if the current were essentially zero?

It would look like some combination of capacitance, inductance, and resistance, with various resulting overall impedance magnitudes and phase angles at each of the many frequency components of the static discharge. But since those impedances together with the impedance of the connecting wires would be higher than that of a heavy gauge wire by itself, and much higher than that of a braided ground strap, the capacitor would serve no purpose.

Re the Zerostat, keep in mind that what we are trying to de-staticize here is the person!

Best regards,
-- Al

Thanks for the response. I'm not really sure how a capacitor might work in this situation is why I asked.
I was wondering if there was a way to "grab" the static discharge absorbed by chassis and pass it to electrical ground before it got into the signal causing a loud pop without potentially creating a ground loop between any components.
This was a "Hail Mary" idea of mine for Vhiner's problem. I imagined at least one of his components was highly susceptible to this problem because I have taken some real painful shocks in the past and never heard anything through my speakers, much less engaged protection circuitry. My approach was to search for a simpler, more user friendly way to manage this problem other than remembering to discharge oneself before touching anything. I was also looking for a solution that would work whenever an unfamiliar guest reached for the volume control. Believe it or not, I briefly considered metallic doors that would force the user to discharge themselves to ground before touching any equipment. As sure as I am that would work, even I wouldn't do it myself.
Other than wearing rubber soled shoes, a grounding strap, remembering to discharge oneself to ground, or treating oneself, carpeting and furniture to reduce static buildup, is there any component, device or circuit that could replace the "capacitor idea" in my previous design to absorb and pass the discharge to ground without creating a ground loop or other ill effect?
Why are some components less susceptible than others, and can that be applied here?

Buy several cans of Static Guard and hose down your carpet. Seriously. I did that once and it worked. For a day. But it worked.

Other than wearing rubber soled shoes, a grounding strap, remembering to discharge oneself to ground, or treating oneself, carpeting and furniture to reduce static buildup, is there any component, device or circuit that could replace the "capacitor idea" in my previous design to absorb and pass the discharge to ground without creating a ground loop or other ill effect?

It seems to me that the use of braided ground straps from each chassis to a common ground point, as I described above, might do exactly that in many cases.

Why are some components less susceptible than others?

Good question. My feeling is that the root cause of these problems is most likely the failure of the designers of equipment that is susceptible to this problem to adequately address the issue during the design process.

It's interesting that computers, which contain digital devices and circuits that are much more complex than in most audio components, and that run at much higher frequencies, never (to my knowledge) seem to have these kinds of problems when their metal cases are touched. Makes you wonder.

Best regards,
-- Al

All I can say is that rubbing a dryer sheet on my hands before I touch a component has been foolproof since i started this thread a year ago....and my static problem was severe. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone for whom this dyi fix has not worked...just in case I shouldn't consider it a panacea.