Fun With Electricity

[bigcatJC]

See if you can top this!

Back in my high school days, my little rock band was playing a New Year's Eve party with a rented PA. First song into the night, and we're really jammin'. The 1st chorus rolls around, and I step up to the mic to sing backup and WHAM! Blue and white lightning arcs from my mic to my mouth. I hit the ground, the PA goes out and all the lights in the house go off.

Turns out the rented PA wasn't grounded properly somewhere. My hands on the bass + my mouth 2 inches from the mic grounded the whole affair rather nicely. The fuses were blown in my bass amp and the PA, and the breaker tripped in the house. Throw in an eraser-sized black scar on my upper lip (which I sported for a month), and it was a heck of an evening.

Luckily someone at the party was studying to be an electrician and had some tools in his car. He had us properly grounded and rolling in under and hour. The show must go on! But you can bet I didn't sing any more backup that night.

 

[Jazzin']

Ouch. Back in grade 7 and 8 HS, we (the bassists in the school band, yes there was more than one) used to shock to trumpet players infront of us by creating a chain of electricity through our basses from the amps. It was quite fun.

 

[dharma]

#1 --- I was probably 9 years old. I took the cables from the back of my brother's Atari and from the back of his stereo and touched them together across my chest in a fit of 9-year-old, I-lack-respect-for-your-stuff-fury. The blue spark blew me back about 3 feet into my closet.

#2 --- Grabbed an electric dog fence designed to stop a doberman. To state the obvious, I am not a doberman, and wasn't at age 11.

#3 --- By far the best. On a dare accepted in part because of guilt, I took a shot from a TASER so a fellow reporter could write a story that had quotes from a person who'd been hit for a small-town daily that I worked for in college.

My mug is forever immortalized on the front page of The Ruston Daily Leader doubled over in agonized pain as two sheriff's deputies grin ear-to-ear.

 

[clanner]

#1 i was learning to play key board and it had a wall adaptor. i unplug after it's turned off and to my suprise it held a residual charge, i was on the floor and dazed.

#2 electric dog fence designed to stop or pit bull. he jumps over while i'm trying to catch him and I trip, luckily i chaught myself on the charged fence.

#3 I'm checking the wring on my friends guitar, I plug it in to test it out and my hair stays in an afro (exagerated i know)
but after I checked it again it worked fine.

 

[WalterBush]

When I was about 8, our neighbor installed an electric fence system to keep his (you guessed it) Dobermans from jumping the fence. In an effort to keep all us kids safe, the parents on the street lined us up one Saturday to touch the thing once so we wouldn't get any ideas about playing with it when no one was looking (duh, there were Dobermans back there, we didn't want to go near the place!) I feel sorry for the kid who was last in line after seeing everybody in front of him touch the thing, fall over, and commence crying!

Tons of clubs have bad wiring, and I've been lip-zapped repeatedly, but not on the level described by bigcatJC!! I'm an electrician by trade, too, and get zapped a lot there, as well, but after a while ya almost get used to a mere 120v at low amperage. Sort of...

 

[Doug Parent]

garage band age 15 practicing in, well a garage. singer has braces on his teeth. Standing in a pool of beer. approaches the mic. It was ugly.

Sound check on some outdoor stage on some Caribbeann island in the chain of islands the cruise ship was on, singer checks the mic, blue flash, unconcious for 30-40 seconds. Later she told me she left her body and it was only my voice that kept her from leaving entirely.

Fun fun fun.

 

[bigtexashonk]

I witnessed Gary Thain of Uriah Heep being electrocuted during a performance in Dallas in the 70's. The band was chugging along on the second or third tune when all of a sudden the bass dropped out. I turned to look at Gary as he was making gasping motions and his eyes were bugging out. he fell face forward and after he hit the stage his platform boots flew up in the air behind him. There was a blue cloud of smoke billowing up behind his amps as the road crew scrambled to help him and shut down the power.

I saw him being carried out on a stretcher and he was rubbing his head and looking very bewildered and confused. I don't think he was ever the same after that and the event probably contributed heavily to his ultimate demise. Great player and a seemingly very nice guy.

 

[plexibass]

i posted somewhere in another thread about being electrcuted on stage and getting shot through the back wall of the stage. enough about me. the absolutely funniest thing i have ever witnessed, partly because it didnt happen to me, happened to my next door neighbor. they have 6 dogs and an invisible fence for their dogs. they always walk their dogs in the schoolyard across the street. they take the shock collars off and the huisband puts them in his pocket, walks across the line and goes down like he had been shot, screaming. i'm outside washing my car and go running over because i think hes had a heart attack. he is trying to get his pants off because he is laying on the line of the fence and cant move. i couldnt stop laughing, neither could his wife......no one was seriously hurt. by the way he had 4 of those collars in his pockets and these are not small dogs.

 

[fourstringdrums]

The only zap I've ever gotten was when I was about 8 years old. My parents used to bowl in a league and I was with them that night while they were playing, running around with the other kids. I didn't have any shoes on and the area I was in had thick shag carpet. I must've built up enough static electricity because when I got near the bowling ball cleaner I put my hand on it and got zapped hard enough to knock me down.

True story

 

[Dan1099]

Seriously folks, by definition, none of you has been electrocuted. If you were, you wouldn't be able to talk about it. Shocked? Sure. Electrocuted? Don't think so. Sorry to be a Grammar Nazi.

One of the backup mics at practice puts a very slight shock in me. Just kinda makes my lips numb. We really should get a new one.

 

[Greg Johnsen]

when I was 10 years old (5 years ago) my parents put an electric fence in our backyard for our 2 dogs, we had one collar put on high, and the other one low, my brother gave me 10 bucks to put the collar set on low around my neck and run through the fence. The collar he gave me however was on high. I ran through the fence and hit the ground screaming.

I was pissed.

The 10 bucks however was nice.

Greg

 

[Serpreme]

Wow you guys are all touched by god if you survived being electrocuted. I need to hang out with you type more...or is it less?

 

[Techmonkey]

The bassist in my friend's punk band used to always shock himself on the mic, without fail, every practice... Not bad enough to seriously harm him, but without fail at least once every night we had a practice, he'd sort of shake himself back from the mic and curse loudly... Hahaha, that mic sure showed him "punk"...

The closest I've ever come to shocking myself is when I smashed out a lightbulb with one of my machine heads. Rock and roll, 'eh? Good thing the circuit breakers in my house go real quick, I had an uncomfortable experience - but it could have left me dead.

 

[Minger]

Truth be told, I've never had a problem of any sort like this...

 

[Mesa Man]

Sorry for the OT but anyway..

Righty, when I was younger I was fixing up this old out board engine (for a boat that is..). It seemed as it would run just fine with the hood off, but wouldnt start with it mounted. I ran it in a BIG bucket of water, yes I stood up to the ankles in water, since it kind of got out of that bucket. In that position with the motor running I get the clever idea to put the hood on while the motor is running :scowl:. This was a bad idea. Why? Well the motor was running and when I snapped the hood in place, the hood shorted the sparkplug through my hand and body to the ground, until the engine died. This my friends was not a very nice experience. Spastic to say the least.

 

[whitedk57]

I am sad to hear some of your stories of bad Doberman experiences. I have three of the critters, and two of them I would trust around anybody (including babies).

The boy Doberman (Thor - of course) is not aggressive but territorial. His bark is very intimidating, but he has never acted aggresively towards any guests - he just likes to let them know that his house is HIS house.

As far as fences go, I have a 4 ft fence, and they have not figured out that they can jump it.

 

[MikeyFingers]

Me and a friend once made a Jacob's Ladder using a small transformer, an extension cord, 2 wire hangers, and a block of wood. It worked pretty good too. That's the only "fun with electicity" I've ever had though.

 

[Mark Wilson]

*sigh*
I stuck a fork in an electrical outlet...both by brother and I did. I was 4, he was 3. There was a huge bang that sent up back a good couple feet. Lucky, miraclously, we wern't injured at all. My mom came running and all was spouted out was by my brother: "We were just sitting here and doing nothing just playing with forks and BOOM!"

Oh God how I miss childhood...


Mark