electric shock while recording

[Shredtillubleed2death]

i get electric shock in my strings when i try to record in my computer..

What could be the problem.. and its grounded properly.. plz help

could it be the problem of ATX box or power supply??

[yoyo1299]

ahhhh no. ur producing static electricity somwhere. are u playing on a carpet floor? if so, there's your problem. ur building up static electricuty, and when u touch the strings, u release the charge and close the circuit. bam! ur shocked

[MF_Kitten]

actually, if you touch the strings of our guitar and then touch a microphone with your lips, like barely touching it, you get a little ´´licking a 9v battery´´ feeling on your lips... same goes for having your lips/face on the mic and barely touching the strings...

dunno why it happens, though...

[elcid]

Are you positive everything is grounded correctly?

[Devo]

Originally Posted by yoyo1299

ahhhh no. ur producing static electricity somwhere. are u playing on a carpet floor? if so, there's your problem. ur building up static electricuty, and when u touch the strings, u release the charge and close the circuit. bam! ur shocked

no offence but dont believe this nonsense...

There are several sources of shock which can be deadly... which gladly this one wasnt!!!

Its hard to figure out what is the cause exaclty but since it only happends when your recoding into your computer it must be a faulty earth in the computer somewhere... and unless your a computer whiz its going to be hard to find out where.. or fix it.. but first thing to try would obviously be replace the soundcard ... then next step would be the motherboard...

However, as an alternative... if you follow this link there is a simple mod you can do to your guitar (add 1 capacitor to the bridge ground) to prevent 'some' electric shock caused by dodgy equipment grounds...

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

Unfortunatly us musicians usually use ourselves as electrical testing equipment...

Good luck

Steve

[Mike239]

Since i have an indoor TV antenna in my room, I've noticed that if i accidentally touch the antenna while i'm playing i get a nasty little shock a fair bit worse than licking a 9V, and using just that energy produced the guitar and amp, if i place an LED between me and the antenna it will light up, Its amazing how much electrical energy surrounds you when you play the guitar. So i would suggest the same as others, Check your grounding the energy is leaking from somewhere then onto your trem and onto the strings and when you play your completing the circuit.

[Distantshore]

Originally Posted by Mike239

Since i have an indoor TV antenna in my room, I've noticed that if i accidentally touch the antenna while i'm playing i get a nasty little shock a fair bit worse than licking a 9V, and using just that energy produced the guitar and amp, if i place an LED between me and the antenna it will light up, Its amazing how much electrical energy surrounds you when you play the guitar. So i would suggest the same as others, Check your grounding the energy is leaking from somewhere then onto your trem and onto the strings and when you play your completing the circuit.

An LED?? Wow thats crazy, I never would have thought!

[Mike239]

Originally Posted by Distantshore

An LED?? Wow thats crazy, I never would have thought!

Oh the LED was just to test how much voltage and current i had running through me when i play, it's a surprising amount about 2-3v.

[yoyo1299]

Originally Posted by Devo

no offence but dont believe this nonsense...

There are several sources of shock which can be deadly... which gladly this one wasnt!!!

Its hard to figure out what is the cause exaclty but since it only happends when your recoding into your computer it must be a faulty earth in the computer somewhere... and unless your a computer whiz its going to be hard to find out where.. or fix it.. but first thing to try would obviously be replace the soundcard ... then next step would be the motherboard...

However, as an alternative... if you follow this link there is a simple mod you can do to your guitar (add 1 capacitor to the bridge ground) to prevent 'some' electric shock caused by dodgy equipment grounds...

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

Unfortunatly us musicians usually use ourselves as electrical testing equipment...

Good luck

Steve

maybe this isn't the cause, but it's not nonsense. i've done it to myself (in other cases) a lot. just wearing a thick sweater then touching metal can give a shock.

[newbieguitarmaker]

rofl I'm always full of static except when I play guitar. I could probably put a led in my mouth and light it up at like publix but when I'm playing guitar I get nothing. Is your pc on a carpeted ground? or is it up on a desk?

[Dino]

Dude, just go wireless and forget about it.

[tobe]

You have a ground issue. Static electricity can shock you of course, but you need to generate it, and simply standing still and playing your guitar W/O moving around AT ALL, will not do it.

Depending on how old your house is, the wiring could not be properly grounded. Are you plugging your guitar directly into the computer's sound card or into something else first?

If you are using two different circuits, one on the computer, one for the fx box whatever for the guitar, the polarity could be off. Try using a ground lift plug to remove either the guitar or the the computer from the loop. Just be careful though, as MF_Kitten pointed out

"... actually, if you touch the strings of our guitar and then touch a microphone with your lips, like barely touching it, you get a little ´´licking a 9v battery´´ feeling on your lips... same goes for having your lips/face on the mic and barely touching the strings..."

a ground issue at the very least can hurt, at the most it can KILL.

If you are not comfortable with trying to fix the issue, talk to an electrician. Good luck!