A Caution About Static Electricity

In the winter months your house or studio can be quite dry. This dryness can make for the possibility of picking up a static charge as you walk across a carpet or get up from an upholstered chair. Your body will retain upwards of several thousands of volts until you touch something that it can discharge into. If you should happen to pickup a microphone or instrument cord while you have this charge, the several thousands of volts could find its way into the electronics of your gear and very likely damage something. The damage could cause the equipment not to function, function weirdly, or simply weaken a component that might fail later.

If possible use a humidifier to put moisture into the room. You can also get sprays that reduce or eliminate static electricity from developing that can be sprayed on carpets and furniture. I think watered down fabric softener sprayed may do this also. Try to touch something else first to discharge yourself before touching your expensive gear.

My own experience from equipment damage....
A good number of years ago a local music shop was going out of business and a lot of items were marked down. They had a bass head that was a couple hundred bucks that I wanted to try out. I picked up a bass guitar and proceeded to pick up the cord that was already plugged into the bass head. As I picked up the cord I heard and felt a slight snap of a static discharge. The bass head didn't produce any sound output at that point, even though it powered up fine. The store owner sold me the "broken" head for $50 as is.
Troubleshooting it I found an OP amp had been fried in the front end of the input stage. Fortunately I had a replacement in my workshop and replaced it and got the head back in working order. The good side of the story is I saved a bit on the bass head purchase by unintentionally damaging it, but I learned a good lesson in what static electricity can do as well.

It's usually frowned on to make multiple posts in different threads, but if Craig feels this thread has some value in other equipment threads, he can repost it or I will with his OK.

Last edited by Mark48 (2012-01-14 11:13:09)