My guitar keeps shocking me!

[SoloTy]

My EPIPHONE Les Paul Studio (epiphone-related, see?) keeps pumping a small but annoying and painful amount of electricity through my wrist when I play my guitar. I play with my wrist resting on the tailpiece, and if the palm of my hand is touching the TP, it doesnt shock. But if I move my hand down slowly towards my wrist, sliding along the TP, it will suddenly start shocking me at one point.. Can someone give me a hand as what to do?

[bluefoxicy]

Open the guitar, check for proper ground against the jack. Follow the entire ground circuit along the backs of the pots right to the pups. If your grounding breaks off the jack but stays connected to the common (bridge), you might ground a hot amp circuit (grid on the preamp tube, or whatever in a solid state; and ground, which is negative DC source) to your body.

 

If the ground loop is proper, try another amp.

 

If that fails, get a DiMarzio instrument cable.

[Guest]

you're in good company..

 

 

...and Al's your uncle.[http://youtube.com/watch?v=4Zh2i32uJxM

[cujo]

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bluefoxicy, Charlie Brown, cujo, CustomerService, Guest, Iconoclast, SoloTy

 

Man, CS jumped on this one quick!

 

Most likely a broken ground inside the guitar....or a bad amp.

I'm impressed that many of us survived the 70's. Remember back when if you so much as brushed up against a mic stand while touching your

strings it was BZZZZAAAPPPPP!!!!!!

[Guest]

Open the guitar' date=' check for proper ground against the jack. Follow the entire ground circuit along the backs of the pots right to the pups. If your grounding breaks off the jack but stays connected to the common (bridge), you might ground a hot amp circuit (grid on the preamp tube, or whatever in a solid state; and ground, which is negative DC source) to your body.

 

If the ground loop is proper, try another amp.

 

If that fails, get a DiMarzio instrument cable.[/quote']

 

Your post has made me realize that you don't really have a clue do you?

 

...and Al's your uncle...and his polarity is correct..

[Guest]

My EPIPHONE Les Paul Studio (epiphone-related' date=' see?) keeps pumping a small but annoying and painful amount of electricity through my wrist when I play my guitar. I play with my wrist resting on the tailpiece, and if the palm of my hand is touching the TP, it doesnt shock. But if I move my hand down slowly towards my wrist, sliding along the TP, it will suddenly start shocking me at one point.. Can someone give me a hand as what to do?[/quote']

 

First...go to Lowes/ Home Depot/ etc.. and buy a plug in polarity tester (eight bucks or so) and make certain the AC outlet you're using is wired correctly...if it isn't you're going to have to pull a fuse and re-wire the outlet or if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself, have it done...the tester is a must have if you're going to be playing out anywhere...incorrect polarity or faulted grounds can be serious..always test before you plug in and have everyone else who plugs in test their outlet as well..

If the outlet checks out OK then you need to make certain that your amp is well-grounded which means a professional installation of a true three prong plug...just being a "polarized" plug isn't enough because when you plug into an incorrectly wired outlet as the electricity goes through it's "alternating" it's very easy to become the missing ground and that can be unpleasant....there's positive, negative and neutral...and people often mistake "negative" for "ground"... it isn't...

 

Now...it's probably an electrical problem but...a while back I was getting a shock-like sensation in my right hand also bracing against the bridge and thought the same thing...but one night I got it while playing an acoustic guitar that wasn't plugged in...seems my hand posture was causing some nerve thing which was perceived by myself as a "shock"...

 

check everything out but absolutely go and buy and USE the polarity tester whenever you plug in to a new outlet no matter where it's at....good luck...

 

...and Al's your uncle.

[JEPI]

I was playing a Gibson SG with a thin neck and wide fretboard........

 

Uncle Al - Reading what you said about the 'self perceived shock phenomenon' I remembered that I experienced the same thing in the early '70's. However, I was getting it in my "left" hand sometimes while chording within the first five frets... I'd be playing along and it literally felt like bolt of electricty knocking my hand away from the fret board!! (I had been doing alot of 'wood-shedding' learning how to use my pinky for solos). After eliminating all the signal/electrical issues, I went to the Doctor...Bingo, same as you. It was a nerve/tendon issue that he assured me would go away after I built the strength and dexterity in my pinky finger. Interesting

 

Cujo - I remember those mic zaps too and the neck aches I'd get from snapping my head back...lol.........J

[RotcanX]

Sounds more like a carpal tunnel kind of problem than an electrical one.

[JEPI]

Sounds more like a carpal tunnel kind of problem than an electrical one.

 

It sure was with my experience but as the Doc said, it went away with no permanent damage. But as I said, it was amazing that it 'felt' like an electrical shock that "threw" my hand off the fretboard..........J

[charlie brown]

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bluefoxicy' date=' Charlie Brown, cujo, CustomerService, Guest, Iconoclast, SoloTy

 

Man, CS jumped on this one quick!

 

I'm impressed that many of us survived the 70's. Remember back when if you so much as brushed up against a mic stand while touching your

strings it was BZZZZAAAPPPPP!!!!!![/quote']

 

Man, do I remember those little (or large) zaps on the lip, if you got too close to the mic,

and the polarity was off! Zaaaap, is right! Ouch! Was not a good way, to start a gig!

LOL!

 

CB

[Dave]

Having played in the sixties and seventies, I learned very quickly to tap the mic while holding the guitar before singing into a mic. Those were the days of non-polarized outlets. Ionoclast got it right. Buy a cheap voltmeter and measure the AC voltage between the amp case and the guitar. Measure the voltage between various points on the guitar while it is plugged into the amp.

 

Check your outlet this way: measure between the small vertical slot (AC hot) and ground (the one that is rounded) and between the large slot (neutral) and ground. You should have 115vac +/- 10vac between hot and ground and 0vac (can be up to 5v) between neutral and ground. If these are backwards, you have a wiring problem. You can also buy a plug-in outlet checker at Home Depot that will show a combination of lights to indicate proper and improper polarity. If your outlet is wired backwards, you can have almost full line voltage between your guitar and ground. If your amp has a polarity switch, flip it and see if the shock goes away.

[carverman]

 

Man' date=' do I remember those little (or large) zaps on the lip, if you got too close to the mic,

and the polarity was off! Zaaaap, is right! Ouch! Was not a good way, to start a gig!

LOL! [/quote']

 

Well what about static electricity? You could build up a charge and as soon as you

touched the case of the mike..zappp!..and some nasty sparks too. Dave and Uncle

Al have pretty much explained it all and what to to do..but I can't say that I've

ever experienced this on amp that has a line transformer and a polarity switch.

 

BTW..I wouldn't necessarily trust that the U-Ground is real ground...it depends

on where the fuse/breaker panel is grounded..if the u-ground is just tied to the

metal case of the box, there care be a potentional imbalance between phase A

and B of the household A/C (230 -240volts between them, and that can cause some interesting a/c leakage

effects. The U-ground (utility ground) should also be grounded to a cold water pipe.