Electric shock from a guitar

barney · #1 06-02-2004, 09:21 AM

i was playing my guitar today and when i touched my microphone, I got an electric shock. It wasn't a big shock but surprised me none the less. I figure it happend cuz the microphone was acting as a ground.

Any way i can prevent this? Also note that when i'm not touching a metal part on my guitar, there's slightly more buzz than when i'm touching them.

Jem7RB MK · #2 06-02-2004, 09:55 AM

Get your earths check asap, and use an RCD to stop yourself getting fried

Best of luck

Rob

Tezifon · #3 06-02-2004, 01:34 PM

check this

http://www.guitarnuts.com/technical/...fety/index.php

Jeroenn · #4 06-02-2004, 06:11 PM

Interesting topic..

Besides my TC-Gmajor, all my guitar equipment is on adapters, so no ground connection. I think the TC has a ground thinggy on the connector, but unfortunatly, I don't have any grounded outlets in my guitarroom..
Any suggestions? (and yes, I know there is a potential diffrence between my strings and the 'ground'.. I've feld light shocks when I touched metal stuff).

barney · #5 06-03-2004, 01:32 AM

How can i tell if my guitar's grounded properly or not? I'm thinking if my guitar isn't properly grounded than no elecricty can reach me thru the strings right?

barney · #6 06-03-2004, 01:43 AM

And my guitar is a japanese made RG470. Altho the model num suggests its made in korea, this one's bit weird, because it has an edge pro bridge (not edge proII) and V8,S1,V7 pickups. Plus the tag had made in japan and a stamp printed on it. The buzzing stopping when i touch the metal parts of the guitar was present BEFORE i changed my pups.

Texter · #7 06-03-2004, 03:46 AM

The mic itself may also not be grounded properly...And if you don't use properly grounded wallsockets, go figure

With the coolest equipment (favorably a big rack tower, without decent on-board grounding) you'd get all kinds of levels of pure unsaturable buzz...

Always good for a laugh from my side.

Jeroenn · #8 06-03-2004, 04:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texter

And if you don't use properly grounded wallsockets, go figure

Well, if you don't *have* them.........
I only have grounded sockets in my kitchen. I'm NOT moving my guitar stuff into my kitchen, if you don't mind, thanks so much.

beetlebz · #9 06-03-2004, 06:08 AM

they make adapters to ground plugs in ungrounded sockets. its basically a 2 pronged plug to go in the wall, and it has a socket on the back for a 3 pronged plug. there is then a ground wire that gets attached to the screw that holds the outlet plate on.

but thats assuming the outlet is properly grounded, and honestly i dont see how it cant be

Jeroenn · #10 06-03-2004, 07:13 AM

If the outletplate was properly grounded, it would be easy to install a proper type outlet. In my case, there are no ground wires (yellow/green) in the boxes. I don't have the equipment to pull those wires through my electrical system, and since it's a rental place, I'm not even allowed to do so. I can fake it, by hooking the ground up to the heaters, which I assume to be properly grounded (they should), but that's no guarantee.

wildealien · #11 06-03-2004, 04:06 PM

when i'd play guitar in my parents garage (concrete floor), through my dad's UNGROUNDED 100w tube amp, all was peachy...

...until i dropped my pick. if i didn't want an electric shock, i'd have to take my fingers off the strings. if i forgot, i'd get a surly tingle in my fingers

grounding is the key. or, just shielding yourself. like, wearing shoes on a concrete floor while playing with ungrounded equipment

Jeroenn · #12 06-03-2004, 04:16 PM

I like the idea of wireless I read in one of the links (it would surely help with the cable fustrations), but...My old RG, when I played that thing, my dad could hear me on the radio..

Not that it was a hit or anything.. Just interference, I suppose and that too was ungrounded.

However, I can imagine that a wireless unit may also interfere on radio's or scanners and things like that. Any insights to that? Don't want to upset my neighbours...

Shakma!! · #13 06-03-2004, 07:29 PM

do you suppose that the radio interference you caused was just because of unshielded wiring? cause i know if your cables arent shielded you can pick up radio stations on yuor amp... same thing in reverse or is that actually being ungrounded?

ShredderForever · #14 06-08-2004, 11:54 PM

LOL, this happened to me in a studio one time, the shock hit my lips and my arm...Though it scared the crap out of me, it made some cool feedback :-)

ShredderForever · #15 06-08-2004, 11:58 PM

I forgot to add that; Some people try to wrap foam around the mic stands to prevent this, though I'm unsure whether it works or not. I remember listening to an interview with Double Trouble, SRV's band, and they said that they tried so many things but they couldn't solve the problem, so once in a while Stevie got a zap off the microphone.