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dark side of electric music Re: 60 cycle hum in racks - stoppingthe insanity / share your magic



I'm sorry to hear about the electrocutions, Chris. 
I've kissed the kilowatts a few times, but I've never seen what you have 
seen. I t must have been awful. Like you say, a total waste. (Keith Relf 
of the Yardbirds died a similar way in 1976.)

For anyone playing a stringed instrument, here's a tip someone passed on 
to me:
Nowadays I hold my guitar's tuning machines about 1/8" away from the mic 
(guitar volume on 10). If there is any potential, it will (in theory) make 
a pretty arc between the tuners and the mic instead of frying my lips.
REPEAT THIS TEST EVERY TIME SOMEONE FLIPS A GROUND SWITCH ON THEIR 
AMP!!!!!!!!
TRUST NOONE! ASSUME NOTHING!

And DO NOT PLAY WITH OLDE-TYME AMPS THAT HAVE 2-PRONG POWER CORDS! Not 
unless you pull a J. Geils and play it through an isolation transformer!!! 
I was nearly killed by my Gibson Skylark, which had 120V potential between 
the front panel and the guitar strings. I touched the guitar and the amp 
at the same time and I swear the room went somewhere without me. Horrible.

And please bear in mind that after you get jolted, YOU ARE STILL AT RISK 
FOR ARYTHMIA UP TO 24 HOURS AFTER THE SHOCK!

I haven't had a problem in nearly 10 years, partly because I refuse to 
become complacent about something as awful as electrocution; I have a 
heart murmur, so my next good jolt could be my last. 
We've ALL gotta be careful.
~Tim 

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Lee <chris_lee43@hotmail.com>
Sent: Feb 1, 2005 9:49 AM
To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com
Subject: Re: 60 cycle hum in racks - stopping the insanity / share your 
magic

I,ve been in two situations where friends I,ve known have been killed 
onstage ,one just after i had left and one as i was about to join.sad 
waste 
,mobile gear is always vulnerabe to trouble ,simpy floating wires in plugs 
not checked regular,these days of trip switches have seen improvement.
Chris
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Firman" <maf@mlswebworks.com>
To: <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 1:20 PM
Subject: Re: 60 cycle hum in racks - stopping the insanity / share your 
magic


> Actually this isn't really true. Most of the time I don't play in 
> environments
> that would cause me to become the ground conduit. I'm not a guitar player
> either, so I'm not holding a ground lead in my hand while I'm plugged 
>into
> a notoriously badly wired device (a guitar amp). Most of the time I'm 
> pretty
> safe in the studio or at gigs in pretty controlled environments (no 
> poolside
> gigs or those behind cages designed to fend off thrown bottles).
>
> Granted I played one gig, where the performance space was in the basement
> of a coffee shop. At one point I noticed that a pipe above my head was 
> dripping
> dangerously close to my equipment, so I guess I might have been in 
>danger 
> there.
>
> On Feb 1, 2005, at 12:47 AM, Kim Flint wrote:
>
>> At 09:55 AM 1/31/2005, Michael Firman wrote:
>>>  Lifting the ground on ALL the devices that are plugged in
>>> usually fixes the problem. I've noticed that some devices seem
>>> to be worse than others when connected, but ground lifting has
>>> always solved the problem for me.
>>
>> This is also a really bad way to kill yourself.
>>
>> (The good ways involve shotguns and bridges, just fyi.)
>>
>> The problem with this method is you never really know when you are 
>going 
>> to die, and it may come at an inconvenient time. For example, it's your 
>> record release party, all your friends and family are there, your kids 
>> are smiling up at you, everybody is thrilled with anticipation and oh 
>so 
>> happy for your success, you go to play the first note, and ZAP! yer a 
>> black, smokey, spinal-tap-drummer spot on the stage. No Kurt Cobain 
>cred 
>> for you.
>>
>> Good luck with it, and please let me know when your next gig is,
>> kim
>>
>>
>> ______________________________________________________________________
>> Kim Flint                     | Looper's Delight
>> kflint@loopers-delight.com    | http://www.loopers-delight.com
>>
> --
> | Michael A. Firman
> | maf@mlswebworks.com
> | http://www.mlswebworks.com
>
>