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Post by infant on Nov 7, 2021 1:24:06 GMT
I saw this on another thread and I thought I’d ask the question here. How many of you have gotten a good jolt of electricity from your equipment or just doing electrical work around the house? I’ll go first…
When I first started playing in the late 60s, my parents bought me one of those cheap department store amps from Eatons or Sears. Two prong plug, transformerless, point to point wired, just waiting to give us a good jolt. I recall playing in my neighbours basement one summer and it was hot down there so I took off my flip flops and stepped onto his cement floor while holding my guitar…..knocked me onto my ass! I don’t know how I let go of the guitar but I did.
Once we started playing as a band I recall getting some shocks through the microphone from time to time and so I started putting a windscreen on my SM58 to prevent shocks to the lips. I now play wireless and don’t have to worry about getting zapped anymore.
The worse shock I ever received was in the mid 70s. I was doing a tune up to my car in my parents garage. I was getting ready to set the timing on the car and my cheap timing light wasn’t that bright and so I had to shut off the light in the garage in order to see the timing mark. Well, when I went to grab and adjust the distributor cap, I grabbed onto the exposed contact of the timing light and I had 20,000 to 30,000 volts running through my body. My knees just buckled as I slumped to the garage floor. It took me a few minutes to get my bearings but I grabbed a flashlight to see what I was doing after that. I remember my thumb feeling numb for a few days after that.
So let’s hear your horror stories!
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Post by zontar on Nov 7, 2021 6:33:41 GMT
I remember taking lessons & we had band stuff as well--and accidentally touching the strings on my guitar & another
Found out not to do that.
Andd another I went to move a mic stand--and I touched my strings--that was worse.
I have also learned that if I am in a basement without proper flooring--to wear some sort of footwear--or playing barefoot or is socks while stanifn on the bare floor will zap you at least a bit.
But no horror stories.
Les Paul had one where he wasn't sure if he'd live or play guitar again.
(Of course being the showman he was where he never let the truth get in the way of a good story, perhaps that was exaggerated...)
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Post by Die Bullen on Nov 7, 2021 14:01:41 GMT
My only Story is an Ampeg v4 that I owned that had some issues. It had a 2 prong unpolarized plug and if the Polarität switch was set wrong you would get a good bit of juice running through your hand and Arm when you touched the strings. Of course the polarity seemed to always be set wrong every time I turned the amp on so I still wonder if my friend would secretly flip something when I wasn't looking
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Post by stratosphere on Nov 7, 2021 15:39:39 GMT
Intersting topic as I`m a sparky.
The most exhilarating experience in my career was watching the shrapnel generated by a magnet that got grounded to a 25 KV connector...punch two holes through the canvas coat that my apprentice was wearing at the time. One other guy was temporarily blinded for a couple of days from the plasma created by the arc...and my apprentice quit the trade after a weekend of reflection. I was lucky enough to see what was about to happen and managed to crouch down and shield my face at the same time. I`m glad everyone involved lived without long term damage.
The event was brought on by an inexperienced public service worker who resented the advice myself and others offered. When I issued a safety report to the local power authority, I discovered that no report had been filed at their end.
In 30 years of working as a sparky, i was on the recieving end of 2 events that hurt physically...One was of a 240V basboard heater while under load pulling 30amps at 240V...ouch...made my arm ache for a couple of hours. The second was a 600V poke off of the gate side of an SCR controlling 2400V...That one was like getting hit in the head with a club. I was checked for arrhythmia by my doc and felt spaced out for a few hours.
Fun times...call me crazy, but I miss the danger associated with voltage. It keeps one sharp and on their toes...lol.
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Post by johnreardon on Nov 7, 2021 15:54:29 GMT
I can remember playing one gig, sat on a chair next to our junction box, as I had one leg in plaster. I broke a string and it fell onto the box and somehow managed to touch the blades of one of the plugs that had not been pushed in fully.
Needless to say it blew a fuse and gave me an electric shock that managed to pull my strap off the guitar and send it forward a few feet in front of me. The audience thought it was part of the act and clapped as I sat there with tingling hands. We swiftly took a break to change my string and replace the fuse and carried on playing. Looking back I suppose I must have been extremely lucky to have just suffered tingling hands, as it could have been much worse.
A friend of mine in the 60s got a shock from a mic stand that crippled his left fingers and effectively put an end to his band playing.
Les Harvey from a band called Stone the Crows died on stage in front of a 1000 fans in 1972 when the same thing happened to him.
Btw In the 60s, I played the same place in Swansea where Les sadly lost his life
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Post by zontar on Nov 7, 2021 20:58:43 GMT
My only Story is an Ampeg v4 that I owned that had some issues. It had a 2 prong unpolarized plug and if the Polarität switch was set wrong you would get a good bit of juice running through your hand and Arm when you touched the strings. Of course the polarity seemed to always be set wrong every time I turned the amp on so I still wonder if my friend would secretly flip something when I wasn't looking Most of my experiences zap wise were with two pong plugs but it has happened with three prongs as well I keep thinking I need to switch my Garnet stencils to three prong plugs--or sell them & advise the buyer to do the plug switch, |
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Post by Die Bullen on Nov 7, 2021 21:37:56 GMT
My only Story is an Ampeg v4 that I owned that had some issues. It had a 2 prong unpolarized plug and if the Polarität switch was set wrong you would get a good bit of juice running through your hand and Arm when you touched the strings. Of course the polarity seemed to always be set wrong every time I turned the amp on so I still wonder if my friend would secretly flip something when I wasn't looking Most of my experiences zap wise were with two pong plugs but it has happened with three prongs as well I keep thinking I need to switch my Garnet stencils to three prong plugs--or sell them & advise the buyer to do the plug switch, I had all my 2 prong amps converted to 3 prong years ago- I don't like the idea of 2 prong anymore |
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Post by northernboy on Nov 7, 2021 22:52:44 GMT
When I was about 5 or 6 I was at my grandparent's watching tv. Their tv was probably a late 60's or early 70's all tube, 2 prong model. I turned it off and was running my fingers along the screen to get all the static and it gave my hand a good hard zapp. I remember being so shocked (pardon the pun) that I sat there completely stunned (another bad pun). To this day I've never told anyone about this. It was a good hard shock though.
My amp has the original two prong plug on it. I know I should change it to a three prong, but I really want to leave it original. It's never shocked me in the twenty years I've had it.
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Post by infant on Nov 8, 2021 0:40:07 GMT
When I was about 5 or 6 I was at my grandparent's watching tv. Their tv was probably a late 60's or early 70's all tube, 2 prong model. I turned it off and was running my fingers along the screen to get all the static and it gave my hand a good hard zapp. I remember being so shocked (pardon the pun) that I sat there completely stunned (another bad pun). To this day I've never told anyone about this. It was a good hard shock though. My amp has the original two prong plug on it. I know I should change it to a three prong, but I really want to leave it original. It's never shocked me in the twenty years I've had it. Sorry, that’s crazy talk!! Change it and keep the old plug for whoever buys the amp from you when you sell it. I wouldn’t trust the “death cap” to work forever. If it ever fails…..ciao baby! Besides, you just jinxed yourself when you typed that last sentence. Yikes! |
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Post by northernboy on Nov 8, 2021 1:10:29 GMT
When I was about 5 or 6 I was at my grandparent's watching tv. Their tv was probably a late 60's or early 70's all tube, 2 prong model. I turned it off and was running my fingers along the screen to get all the static and it gave my hand a good hard zapp. I remember being so shocked (pardon the pun) that I sat there completely stunned (another bad pun). To this day I've never told anyone about this. It was a good hard shock though. My amp has the original two prong plug on it. I know I should change it to a three prong, but I really want to leave it original. It's never shocked me in the twenty years I've had it. Sorry, that’s crazy talk!! Change it and keep the old plug for whoever buys the amp from you when you sell it. I wouldn’t trust the “death cap” to work forever. If it ever fails…..ciao baby! Besides, you just jinxed yourself when you typed that last sentence. Yikes! Stupid question, but I want to know. If I just plug the amp into a power bar which obviously has a three prong plug, is that the same as grounding it? |
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Post by Die Bullen on Nov 8, 2021 1:39:40 GMT
Sorry, that’s crazy talk!! Change it and keep the old plug for whoever buys the amp from you when you sell it. I wouldn’t trust the “death cap” to work forever. If it ever fails…..ciao baby! Besides, you just jinxed yourself when you typed that last sentence. Yikes! Stupid question, but I want to know. If I just plug the amp into a power bar which obviously has a three prong plug, is that the same as grounding it? No because there would be no ground past the power block. For the low cost of making this very simple mod you are vastly improving safety of the unit. |
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Post by northernboy on Nov 8, 2021 1:41:35 GMT
Stupid question, but I want to know. If I just plug the amp into a power bar which obviously has a three prong plug, is that the same as grounding it? No because there would be no ground past the power block. For the low cost of making this very simple mod you are vastly improving safety of the unit. Lately I've looked at some prices of the amp online and wondered if it's time to sell it. |
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Post by Die Bullen on Nov 8, 2021 1:53:29 GMT
No because there would be no ground past the power block. For the low cost of making this very simple mod you are vastly improving safety of the unit. Lately I've looked at some prices of the amp online and wondered if it's time to sell it. Well that's a question only you can answer. What's the amp? I don't usually sell amps because they've appreciated but rather because I don't play them much. I have at least 3 that I rarely play now. |
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Post by infant on Nov 8, 2021 14:26:21 GMT
Only sell it if you don’t use it. But it would be easier to sell with a 3 prong plug as the buyer wouldn’t have to change it themselves. The 3 prong plug doesn’t reduce the value of an amp and if you include the old 2 prong plug in the sale, they can change it back if they want (but they won’t want to if they want to play it)
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