CarefreeStyle

My library will let you donate books, I think most should. After I read your book I'll just give it to them.

I don't believe Over_clox said anything about the guitar blowing out an amp or being wet, just that it was corroded and would electrocute someone.

If an amp is dialed to 10 and you plug in a guitar and play a chord and blow the speakers, did the chord you play come through so loud that it blew the speakers? Nope! The amp is driving the speakers past what they can handle. Again not the guitars fault. Same could be said about scratchy pots, switches, etc.

Can amps shock you or break speakers? Yes. But in in your speaker example you didn't get shocked. The amp didn't even break. The speakers did and it was due to human error. Those crackles didn't damage anything until it was at full volume.

I never mentioned the speakers getting shocked or that, that is what I thought the issue was.

In my nice story I mentioned that my bass was already plugged into a cab, the cab was cranked up and my bass was at its max volume. My idiot band mate started playing with knobs, to listen to my basses active EQ, while the whole band was playing together. They fucked with my bad volume pots knob, cause they were confused on what that knob did. My basses volume being lowered with that bad pot caused it to crackle very fucking loudly. Blowing 3 speakers in an 8x10 cab. It was very dumb lol.

I mentioned that story again because you claimed before that crackle can't kill a speaker and I wanted to clarify that yes the crackle broke the speakers. This had nothing to deal with electric shock, that's why I didn't mention it. The amp wasn't driving the speakers too hard, it was faulty electronics in the bass that caused the excessive load on the speakers. So yes, it was the guitar and bad pots fault. And yes, also a healthy amount of human error; moving pots while plugged into an already very loud cab.

Hopefully that puts us on the same page.

Just to finish it out. We fixed that cab, it was like $120 per each speaker that needed to be replaced and I took my bass into a shop and got a new pot. No more dumb issues now. We all know better lol. This was awhile ago, I haven't played with that group in about 4 years.

But let's bring this back to the thread, OP was given an Epiphone Les Paul Pro. Someone assumed it was wet and had corrosion. The oxidation on the pickups and parts are normal for gold hardware from Epiphone. Having a 5w practice amp to test would be more than enough. Cause again, the guitar isn't shocking anyone or destroying any amps!

I think you're just repeating information that has already been established and understood.

I'm not taking Over_clox's side in making assumptions about the guitar itself. They made an assumption that the guitar was a shock risk and y'all dragged them hard, through the mud for a pretty reasonable assumption. Reading through the chain, to a degree, the way they reacted might've warranted it. But checking to ensure electronics are in order is best practice.

I think all of us have agreed that the guitar isn't really a shock risk, but I went out of my way earlier to explain how it could be tho. I did that especially cause a couple mentioned that there was no way you could get shocked through (or by) a guitar, that's demonstrably false. I don't want someone to think that they are perfectly immune to electricity when messing with electric guitars and their potentially high voltage equipment.

Not like I'm helping to make this civil at this point but, I mostly made comments here because there is hostilely and hastily made misinformation, half thoughts, and insults being put out into this chain.

Spell check yours and reread my comments.

It is equipment being setup, used incorrectly, and faults in the equipment that can shock you, the player. I don't think I even mentioned electricity damaging an instrument or equipment.

You are arguing in bad faith, ignoring things that I have said, and putting words into my mouth.

The reason why this thread is so shit, is because a lot of people instantly became hostile trying to correct one another.

I have personally blew out 3 speakers with a crackle from a messed up volume pot. Had my bass plugged into a cab that was already turned way up and a band mate decided he was gunnu play with knobs on my bass while playing and the crackle of the volume knob going up and down blew out 3 speakers in an 8x10 cab.

It was his own hardware not mine tho lol.

Also you can be shocked through a guitar or through an amp. Heres a copy/paste from something else I posted here:

So a guitar (or mic) isn't going to shock you, but the equipment a guitar is connected to could provide enough current to noticably shock you. If that amp or whatever has a ground fault or had its ground lifted, it could be a shock hazard as bigger amps can hold a lot of voltage in their chassis.

Some in this thread have said that you straight up can't be shocked by a guitar and that is blatant misinformation.

An example of how to get shocked is in live sound, you'll likely have all your amps and stuff plugged into some kind of power supply or generator. That power supply is providing current to your amp. Let's say that power supply has a ground fault, If your amps ground is good, it's probably fine. The current in your amp that should be flowing to ground, is doing so. If you lifted your amps ground cause it was buzzing or something, that current from the power supply is now running wild in your amp. That current can and will travel up the 1/4in jack into your guitar and into the pickups. Making a circuit that electrifies everything as there are no grounds for that current to disapiate into. Now, when you pick up your guitar and press down on a string, that string potentially makes contact with the pickups sending current through the metal strings into your body and potentially through your body into the ground as you are now the only ground in the circuit. This shocks the shit out of you. And considering that a power supply can be very high voltage this could easily be fatal.

I am still a student in audio engineering but I've taken/been taking classes in electrical engineering focused on audio and live sound classes. Plus I've been working for a bit doing stage hand stuff and sometimes they let me handle audio and power stuff. So there are certainly things I don't get yet.

But we've been given lectures by a couple different professors about how to set up stuff properly so we ain't shocking the shit out of the musicians we're supposed to be working for. Kinda important info lol.

Responding to this comment chain as a whole.

1. You can be shocked through a guitar (or mic), but not really by the guitar itself.
2. Amps also rarely shock people as they have grounds in them that can protect from shocks, but some have ground lifts.
3. Pretty much the only case we're you will get shocked bad enough that it'll be a problem, is in live sound.

A guitar has lots of metal components that can have a current running through them including the strings themselves if they touch the pickup coils. Usually there's never going to be enough current in them to shock you. Passive guitars aren't going to produce any of that current alone. I have an active bass with a 9V battery and it isn't going to shock me playing normally unless that battery somehow becomes ungrounded and the stings come into contact with that circuit. Which is rare, and also weak enough not to do any damage or even be noticable.

So a guitar (or mic) isn't going to shock you, but the equipment a guitar is connected to could provide enough current to noticably shock you. If that amp or whatever has a ground fault or had its ground lifted, it could be a shock hazard as bigger amps can hold a lot of voltage in their chassis.

Some in this thread have said that you straight up can't be shocked by a guitar and that is blatant misinformation.

An example of how to get shocked is in live sound, you'll likely have all your amps and stuff plugged into some kind of power supply or generator. That power supply is providing current to your amp. Let's say that power supply has a ground fault, If your amps ground is good, it's probably fine. The current in your amp that should be flowing to ground, is doing so. If you lifted your amps ground cause it was buzzing or something, that current from the power supply is now running wild in your amp. That current can and will travel up the 1/4in jack into your guitar and into the pickups. Making a circuit that electrifies everything as there are no grounds for that current to disapiate into. Now, when you pick up your guitar and press down on a string, that string potentially makes contact with the pickups sending current through the metal strings into your body and potentially through your body into the ground as you are now the only ground in the circuit. This shocks the shit out of you. And considering that a power supply can be very high voltage this could easily be fatal.

https://youtu.be/xS_5K5YEYv8?si=__vaNi_33fAtSygB

This video is good at showing how this works. Plus the guy uses an ohmmeter to prove that there is an electric current flowing from the amp into the bass in the first minute or so of the video.

As a side you shouldn't really ever be lifting the ground on an amp with the expeception of maybe studio recording sessions. Ground lift switches are often there to cut out buzzes and hums in the amp. In live sound and practice sessions that buzz really doesn't matter, especially live it'll get washed out by all the other sounds. If it's actually an issue, then you need a new amp or find a tech willing to work on amplifiers.

I heard that if pickup coils have gone really bad and lost their grounding they could potentially shock you, like the guitar itself shocks you, but I don't know anything more about that. Maybe that could apply to the guitar in question? If it's not active I doubt it. It's what amp you plug that guitar into that could cause problems.

TLDR: That guitar in question isn't really an electrical hazard unless it's plugged into an electrical hazard. It should be looked over irregardless before selling it.

Magnetic Rose is a short Satoshi Kon anime film from the 90s about a haunted abandoned space station. Very good vibe and aesthetic.