The Steel Guitar Forum

Well, this is a first. At rehearsal a few days ago, the lead guitarist broke a string, the loose end of which flipped over and touched the back of my picking hand - giving me a electrical shock! Hah! Never had that happen before! Weird...

I was only trying to help, Jimbeaux, and now we're being regulated. I passed your workplace safety incident on to OSHA and now they are requiring all steel players to wear full body insulated shockproof suits. I think fingerpicks and using anything less than 3 pedals at a time are going to be an issue.

Yes, weird! Don't shake hands with that guy while he's holding his guitar...at least until the electrical issue is sorted out.

Did it make you pick faster?

I'm guessing Jim broke into this one......

https://youtu.be/7jPMXzxvdL8

Jim,Years ago I was playing guitar in one of those wonderful Alaskan dives I broke a string ...String end goes into an open A.C.outlet in the wall sparks everywhere,I look down and the string is now about three inches long...lucky to have lived through it.

Stuart, that's a scary experience! Wow, you are indeed lucky to have escaped that one! How strange.

No matter how small the accident a good accident report is a must. Here is one that should give you some ideas for format and complete detail:

Dear Sir,
I am writing in response to your request for additional information in Block 3 of the accident report form I submitted.
I put 'poor planning' as the cause of my accident. You asked for a fuller explanation and I trust the following details will be sufficient.
I am a bricklayer by trade. On the day of the accident, I was working alone on the roof of a new six-story building. When I completed my work, I found that I had some bricks left over which, when weighed later were found to be slightly in excess of 500 lbs. Rather than carry the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley, which was attached to the side of the building on the sixth floor. Securing the rope at ground I went up to the roof, swung the barrel out and loaded the bricks into it. Then I went down and untied the rope, holding it tightly to ensure a slow descent of the bricks. You will note in Block 11 of the accident report form that I weigh 135 lbs. Due to my surprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rapid rate up the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel, which was now proceeding downward at an equally impressive speed.This explained the fractured skull, minor abrasions and the broken collar bone, as listed in section 3 of the accident report form. Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my .right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley.
Fortunately by this time I had regained my presence of mind and was able to hold tightly to the rope, in spite of beginning to experience pain. At approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Now devoid of the weight of the bricks, that barrel weighed approximately 50 lbs. I refer you again to my weight.As you can imagine, I began a rapid descent, down the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming up. This accounts for the two fractured ankles, broken tooth and several lacerations of my legs and lower body.Here my luck began to change slightly. The encounter with the barrel seemed to slow me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell into the pile of bricks and fortunately only three vertebrae were cracked.
I am sorry to report, however, as I lay there on the pile of bricks, in pain, unable to move, I again lost my composure and presence of mind and let go of the rope and I lay there watching the empty barrel begin its journey back down onto me. This explains the two broken legs.
I hope this explanation answers your request. Thank You.

I always carry an inexpensive ($5) AC fault tester with me these days. It came in handy as recently as last week when I discovered a venue provided outlet that had a faulty "neutral".

Guitar player was getting tingly all over. Not in a good way.

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I have found that It's NEVER a good thing when a guitar player "gets tingly all over"....

Matt Elsen wrote:I have found that It's NEVER a good thing when a guitar player "gets tingly all over"....

...particularly if he's the one holding the barrel rope....

A lot of the venues in my area may or may not have grounded outlets! I used to bring my own power cable, and everything plugged into it, amps, PA, lights. In Clifton, we set up, and I ran the cable, meanwhile, our lead singer, plugged her amp into the wall. When she stepped up for a mic check, she got a tingle. Once I got her straightened out, all was well, but she didn't really sing like she meant it for at least 2 sets!

Playing a small Elks Club in Fargo years ago, the band set up on the floor; no stage. Everyone else had taken up the two outlets on the wall behind us, so I plugged into one to my left. We started playing and when I stepped up to the mic, I got a serious wake up call.

We managed to get me plugged in with the rest of the band and I survived the experience. But when I told the bartender there was a problem with that outlet, he doubted it, as it had been wired by one of their members who was an electrician. I suspect that he had gotten a few too many free beverages while doing the work.

We joke about this, but it is a serious matter. Ground faults can be deadly.

Hi Guys,
What we use in Australia is called a RCD. Residual Current Device.
The way it works is, if the current is not equal in the active and the neutral line, there must be some going to ground...somewhere! So it switches the current off very quickly and so avoiding injury.
Cheers, Murray.

Here they call it a GFI, ground fault interrupter.

Were you playing with this guy?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsowLBretlk

When I was playing in a country rock band, years ago, our bass player nearly bought the farm. It was a large affair and we were in a big tent on a plywood stage. He stepped off the stage onto the wet grass and the huge blue spark was tremendous! It knocked him flat on his back and luckily disconnected his base. I think that's what actually saved him. Luckily, this was during a sound check and not during a show set. It did shake him up quite a bit, as it did us. We always carried a long, thick rubber runner after that, just in case. To this day, I'm still super careful about outside jobs.

Jeff gets his kicks !!

Sometimes being the fastest path to ground is a rude awakening. We had an electric stove that made the pans 57 VAC - talk about hot sauce. It was caused by old wiring insulation failure. Once I replaced with high temp insulated wire it was fine.

Carry a cheap multimeter with you and test other peoples ground references to yours..You might be (un) shocked at the results! Some old electronics have a hot chassis instead of grounded chassis - It can cause some unwanted results.

It could be a case similar to this

https://steelguitarforum.com/Forum11/HTML/003019.html

The case for going wireless...

Actually deaths from stage electrocution is not rare.

We take chances with our chosen instruments.

These might help.

Jim,I have one more,While playing guitar in a top 40rock band in Anchorage in the mid 80's we were at a capacity crowd one summer night ,very hot in the club,We had some hanging speakers for mains...for some reason I look over at one of the speakers and a small flame appeared,I signal the lead singer who was really high so he finally stops the band,Everyone leaves the club and runs into the parking lot sound guy grabbed an extinguisher,fire department shows up,Closed the club for the night...turns out the voice coil in one of the mains got really hot and caught fire!

Back in the day, getting a tingle used to be a regular part of the load in! All outlets were not grounded, and most singers plugged their mic into their own amp. Everyone knew better, than to hold your own guitar, and touch someone else's mic.
When PA's started to come on to the scene, a regular ritual was to get everybody's amp in phase with the PA, ground switches were great, but many amps had to have the plug reversed!
I still have an old amp that I've owned for 50 years, and took it over to a jam recently. Plugged it in, held my guitar, and brushed the back of my hand to the mic, and got a tingle. I reversed the plug, retested, all was well for the rest of the day! I intend to install a grounded cord someday, (if I ever have to pull the chassis again)!

BTW, Jim Cohen........this is IT!! No matter how many times you ask when we're on-stage together, I'm NEVER gonna pull your finger again!

"And now Ladies and Gentlemen I'd like to introduce the band. On Pedal Steel Guitar: Sparky Cohen"