Guitar Shock

[OldSkoolPunk02]

How can somebody get shock from there guitar? Heard stories about it... Latez

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Is it just me or does life suck? Maybe I suck and it just life? We shall never know...
Up with dope! Down with hope!
A guitar is like a woman, touch her right, and she shall sing.

[Jon Broderick]

I've been shocked when I have one hand on the guitar and one on a microphone. I am not sure what the problem is. I always tap the mic first before I grab it to make sure I don't get shocked.

[loner92]

The amp I learned on had a bad ground, everytime I touched anything metal on the guitar, it shocked me. Felt like bee stings. But, I kept playing, and fortunately, I got an amp in a few months that didn't shock the crap out of me.

[Kevin Taylor]

It's happened to me a bunch of times. My Fender Twin was always zapping me if I touched the power switch or tried singing into an ungrounded mic.



[This message has been edited by schmange (edited 10-20-2000).]

[Jon68]

Shocks from your equipment can be irritating, painful and dangerous. Older amps use 2-wire plugs (Hot-Neutral) with the Neutral tied to the chassis for safety. The plugs are not polarized (one blade of the plug is wider than the other) so that you can turn the plug over in the socket. This is fine unless you touch another piece of gear that has the plug reversed in the socket. In relation to your equipment, the other equipment has a voltage difference than can cause a shock. The entire scenario is complicated further because the gear may be plugged into different circuits, and those circuits may be miswired or wired using another "phase" of electrical power.
Most new amplifiers use 3-wire plugs (Hot-Neutral- Ground) for the AC input. This is much safer. If your amp has a 2-wire plug, you should have it replaced with a 3-wire plug by a technician. You can check the electricity at your gig/home by buying a circuit tester (you can find them at Radio Shack, catalog # 22-101 for $5.99 or at an electrical parts store). The circuit tester is a 3-prong plug with lights that show correctly wired circuits or faulty circuits. Some may consider this overkill, but it can save your amplifier (and maybe you).
I have been playing for a long time and used to receive shocks regularly until I replaced the 2-wire cord on my Super Reverb with a 3-wire cord.

[Fender1165]

My amps never shocked me but my PA does enough to make up for it. hehe. Anytime I plug my amp's output into my PA it happens. I usually reach up to pull the chain to my light or something and it zaps me. Its pretty mild but you can feel it. When I first found out I could do this I purposefully zapped myself. haha... I really need a life. I hope that doesn't zap your brain too. http://www.guitarforums.com/gtubb/smile.gif

Later~

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-ejd

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[Hootayah]

I've been zapped a bunch of times and it hasn't hurt my brain yet. It hasn't hurt my brain either.
oooh look at the pretty butterfly....

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hootayah@email.com