Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Wow, I just read that the lead singer of the Yardbirds died in 1976 from being electrocuted in his basement, when his guitar was not grounded. Really? I have been playing away and never realized this before.

1. Could it happen today?
2. What do you do to prevent it?
3. How about if you have an amp and and effects pedals plugged in, then to a DI box wired into a building PA system with XLR cables outlets through wall outlets in the building?

Here is the quote from an article that was on Facebook:

"On May 14, 1976, the lead singer Keith Relf died in his basement at age 33 while being electrocuted by his guitar which was not grounded properly. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with The Yardbirds in 1992."

Thank you,
Craig

1 Yes
2 Don't stand in a puddle
3 Let us know!

Well, ya I knew all that. So then this guy actually died of just plain stupidity then?

It's not due to stupidity. Improper grounding will send line voltage to the frame of a guitar, amplifier, microphone, anything. The most common fault in the USA is either putting a non-polarized plug in backwards (it has happened to me) or the socket with the hot and neutral wired backwards. That will send line voltage to the frames and be an electrocution hazard.

I keep a plug in polarity checker in my gig box at all times. It's not a perfect solution, as it doesn't show when the neutral and 3rd wire ground are wired together, but it is better than nothing.

They used to laugh at me when I carried a fault tester and/or a VOM to gigs. Until a guitarist/singer got zapped in the mouth. I tested and found 110 volts between his guitar and the mic. The problem was a misfired house, common with older homes.

You can get a small tester, usually yellow plastic with three LEDs, for about five dollars that will tell you if the hot and neutral are swapped (among other things).

And never, ever, use a three-prong to two-prong adapter, unless it's the type that will allow you to ground it (usually through the cover mount screw).

In 1966 when all the electric madness started my brother and I turned old Radios into amplifiers to get a sound of rock'n'roll and played in the basement where the heating was installed. I am very lucky that I didn't got electrocuted those days. Once I hit one of these metal heating pipes with the strings of the guitar and it made a big bang, fuses blew and the strings melted. Sometimes it doesn't even need a puddle....We never did that again

Electricity can be interesting. When I was 16 I was jamming on a wooden porch barefoot. It was all good until I jumped on to the grass for effect. I wasn't happy with the effect.

If you're dealing with all 3-prong power plugs, its not nearly as much of an issue/threat. You then need a wiring error/problem in either the power socket or your gear.

If you're dealing with vintage gear that still has 2-prong plugs, you have to get them oriented right, as Scott said, or you can get a good jolt. Personally, I just test my setup by touching the instrument cable plug with the back of my hand, but don't do that yourselves, I'm a trained expert. I also test 9V batteries with my tongue, so I'm clearly not a role model.

farace wrote:They used to laugh at me when I carried a fault tester and/or a VOM to gigs. Until a guitarist/singer got zapped in the mouth. I tested and found 110 volts between his guitar and the mic. The problem was a misfired house, common with older homes.

You can get a small tester, usually yellow plastic with three LEDs, for about five dollars that will tell you if the hot and neutral are swapped (among other things).

And never, ever, use a three-prong to two-prong adapter, unless it's the type that will allow you to ground it (usually through the cover mount screw).

Yes, the yellow $5 tester is the one I have. I call it my "$5 life insurance policy." There is only one exception to the 3-to-2 adaptor: when you have an in-line accessory that will cause a ground loop and hum.

I used to have a rack tuner with a 3-prong plug installed on the front end of my amplifier head. I had incessant hum when using it. I finally tried a 3-to-2 adaptor to lift the ground only on the tuner, and the hum went away. I used it in the same manner as a ground lift on an XLR plug. So the ground was still there through the respective shield leads going through to the amplifier to its third prong, providing the proper ground, making sure the adaptor retains the same polarity.

Gary Thain, original Uriah Heep bassist died similarly, though on stage at a gig. What a horrible situation. Our band takes grounding very seriously indeed. I'm forever maintaining our stuff.

fran4001 wrote:Gary Thain, original Uriah Heep bassist died similarly, though on stage at a gig. What a horrible situation. Our band takes grounding very seriously indeed. I'm forever maintaining our stuff.

He died of complications from a heroin overdose over a year after the electric shock. Don't know where you got that info from.

RicukStu wrote:

fran4001 wrote:Gary Thain, original Uriah Heep bassist died similarly, though on stage at a gig. What a horrible situation. Our band takes grounding very seriously indeed. I'm forever maintaining our stuff.

He died of complications from a heroin overdose over a year after the electric shock. Don't know where you got that info from.

That's what I'd heard about his death, I thought he was a very gifted bassist, Uriah Heep Live has a lot of his magic on it...

For the Uriah Heep fans who were not aware of the story (OK, that might be only me), here is a link to a pretty entertaining firsthand account of Gary Thain's on-stage electrocution:

http://www.theday.com/article/20110419/ ... /110419576

Other sources seem positive that the band was playing "July Morning" at the time, though.

Wow, what a story! I can relate to this from several perspectives.
1) Huge Uriah Heep/Thain fan at the time it occurred.
2) I remember Malt Duck, and imbibed a bit of it too.
3)I'm a Baylor alum, although back then I was still in high school in West Houston, playing "Sweet Lorraine" (along with lots of Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and Humble Pie)in my high school garage band, before thousands of adoring, nubile groupies(that's my memory of it, and I'm sticking to it!)
4)I've seen concerts at Moody before, saw Yes there in '77...
Thanks for the link, and the trip down memery lane! I hadn't thought of "Malt Duck" in decades!
Made me think of another malt beverage popular at the time, called "The Little Kings"...

It's weird, you know...I'm old enough (born in 1970s) to have had to deal with microphones shocking me and being cautious of that - but it hasn't happened to me in years, in a club or otherwise. Is it because everything has a three prong plug now?

I used to think it was because I was using Vox/Thomas Organ amps. It seemed like no matter which way they were plugged in, it was the wrong way and you had to flip the polarity switch...