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Post by roly on Dec 7, 2020 10:51:33 GMT -5
Mine happened in about 66 or 67.
We were practicing (back then we didn't call it rehearsing) in one of the band members parents basement and I touched the furnace ducting while holding my guitar and got a hell of a shock. I suppose it couldn't have been line voltage or I wouldn't be posting but it knocked the schitt out of me, took awhile before I was functional.
Have had many other similar events but none as shocking as that one.
You?
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Post by ninworks on Dec 7, 2020 13:36:01 GMT -5
As a kid I was barefoot in mom and dad's garage and pulled the steel chain on the light switch to turn the light off. It was then that I learned what 60Hz 110 volt AC power felt like.
I've been shocked on the lips and teeth too many times to remember when I walked up to my microphone on stage and got a substantial reminder about AC power. That was before we knew the power from the stage gear and PA system all needed to come from the same side of the distribution panel. I learned to grip the strings on my guitar and touch the mic with my other hand to find out if I needed to keep my distance or not. I sometimes put a sock over the mic to avert the shock. Sometimes it helped and sometimes it didn't but it always reduced the shock at the very least. Years later when I learned what caused that I tested the stage outlets before plugging everything in. If it was somewhere we played repeatedly I marked the outlets with a permanent marker that were going to power the stage gear and PA.
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Post by Ricketi on Dec 7, 2020 16:16:37 GMT -5
In my early teens I was playing a really old RCA phonograph. It was missing the knob to turn it on and I fashioned something from a really thick wire and formed it around the switch post. I was holding onto as I turned the bedroom light on , my hand was touching the switch plate screw and wham! Found out what AC feels like.
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Post by Auf Kiltre on Dec 7, 2020 23:26:11 GMT -5
I had a very similar situation, Roly. Basement, dropped my pick, reached down and brushed my cheek against the furnace.
Zzzzolt!
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Post by Leftee on Dec 8, 2020 18:26:39 GMT -5
277 VAC from a ceiling-mounted exit sign across the critical path.
Another time 10k DC from a CRT power supply from an aircraft cawkpit indicator.
Are there prizes?
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jdawg
Wholenote
Posts: 151
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Post by jdawg on Dec 8, 2020 21:54:08 GMT -5
I have been shocked a lot in my life. Growing up my older brother would use me for pranks and would electrocute me often just for his amusement. But the worst one I have experienced was when I was setting up a model in a wind tunnel just outside Toulouse France. The power was out and we were on a temporary generator and the lights weren't working so we had to set up lights to see the model. I was on an aluminum ladder and one of the light clamps was connected and didn't have a proper ground. So I have one hand on the ladder and when I reached out to touch the metal model. I provided a path for the current, 50 hertz 240 volts, My muscles locked up and I couldn't say anything. Luckily the model was smooth and my hand slid off and I fell to the floor. Both shoulders hurt for a couple days after that. Toulouse is a beautiful city if you ever get the chance to visit.
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Post by Auf Kiltre on Dec 8, 2020 23:03:42 GMT -5
One of my earliest memories is of me and my brother finding a lamp cord in the basement. We marched up the stairs like firemen, me in the lead and my brother behind holding the frayed ends. Straight to the livingroom where I plugged it in, heard a pop and saw my brother fall on his butt. He survived and kicked mine a few times over the years.
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Post by Rick Knight on Dec 9, 2020 9:12:20 GMT -5
First paying gig. I laid out an extension cord to be sure it would reach my amp but left it unplugged because the 2 prongs on the amp's cord were splayed and had to be pinched to go into the extension cord. Upon doing so, I discovered that some helpful person had seen the unplugged extension cord and plugged it in for me. I was at the bar for the remainder of setup.
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Dec 9, 2020 10:53:14 GMT -5
I got zapped several times when I started gigging because the owner of the venue had "a cousin that knew a little abuot wiring."
After a particularly bad zap I wised up and got a $5 outlet tester that lived in my gig bag. Before anyone plugged anything into power, I tested every outlet in the stage area. There was usually at least one that had flipped phase or no ground. These I taped over with gaff tape so my partners in musical crime would know to avoid it.
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Post by jazzguy on Dec 10, 2020 0:47:19 GMT -5
at a gig w/ a concrete sidewalk around a swimming pool wearing leather soled shoes
bzzzzz!
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Post by rickyguitar on Dec 27, 2020 5:03:09 GMT -5
Well, more than a few times. One that I really remember was a club with a corner stage. I stepped up to sing my 1st part and got zapped hard enough my head bounced off the wall behind me. Learned how to avoid it. Had a scorch mark on my lip and all.
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Post by oldfartbassplayrwalt on Jan 6, 2021 21:35:42 GMT -5
Was putting up the 4 foot high Nativity statues in the snow, under my homebuilt manger scene.
Kneeling down, when I positioned baby Jesus, my hands started shaking with some awesome vibrations.
That's when I found some rodents chewed through the AC cord, and I was touching bare wires in the snow.
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Post by HenryJ on Jan 21, 2021 15:26:35 GMT -5
The most memorable was the most recent, which was in 2006. My two brothers and I were having our annual jam get-together in December. I was still using my old Vox amp, from 1968, which used a 2-prong power cord. It was warm, so I reached for the pull-chain to turn on the fan. While grasping my fretboard with the other hand. That was when I got zapped!
Less than two years later, I got a new amp, one with the 3-prong power cord. Haven't been zapped since.
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