Before I fry myself, can someone with electric knowledge tell me if this is safe to do myself?

Question

I have an electric guitar and amplifier. I am getting horrible buzzing from the amp, that goes away when I touch anything metal on my guitar or amp, like the casing screws. I have found out from others this is a grounding problem and that my amp is not earthed.

Now my problem is with the electric issues, apparently my amp is NOT earthed/grounded so I need to ground it.

The plug I got with my amp looks like this:

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w283/deezee_photos/Theamplifierplug.jpg

I live in South Africa and no wall sockets will work with the plug. I'm told that hole above the prongs is an earth.

So I bought this adapter:

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w283/deezee_photos/TheadapterIbought.jpg

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w283/deezee_photos/TheadapterIbought2.jpg

I plugged the black amp plug into the grey adapter and the adapter into the wall socket. As you can see in the pic, there is no prong on the grey adapter that can go into the hole in the black plug. This isn't earthed is it???

What I want to do is take a piece of wire and attach it around the thickest prong on the grey adapter (which is the earth) and attach the other end of the wire onto any metal part of my amp, like the s***w. I'm told this will earth my amp and make the buzzing go away.

THE BIG QUESTION... this won't blow up my amp or cause a surge or anything will it?

PS: I know this is long but I've seriously been stressing about this all day. All the shops are closed, there aren't any nearby music shops.

Answer 1

Sounds like a good temporary solution. For a permanent one you should buy a new grounded power cord and replace the one on your amp. It will probably involve some soldering but it sounds like your dad can help you with that.

Answer 2

yes, that will ground the amp........ but why is the amp electrified in the first place?... there could be a loose wire in the amp that is touching the case, or it may be buzzing because of simple interference ....

worst case you will burn up your amp if there is a loose wire... keep and eye out for smoke or high temp heat on the wire that supplies your amp with power

Answer 3

I am a journeyman electrician and would be glad to assist you. The first thing I would recomend is to take an electrical tester and test your wall outlet and see if it has a ground. To do this set your tester on VAC and insert your black lead into the ground hole, this should be a hole shaped like a half circle on a standard 120 Volt receptacle. Insert the red lead into the smaller of the two straight holes, this should be your HOT if the receptacle is wired properly. After inserting both leads into these holes you should get a reading of 120 volts give or take a few. If you do not get a reading then most likely the receptacle is not grounded. Verify if your tester is working properly by leaving the red lead in the Hot and placing the black lead into the longer of the two straight holes, this is or should be your neutral. If you get a reading of 120 volts then your tester is working properly, and your receptacle is not grounded. The neutral is a ground itself but should not be used in place of the earth ground. If your receptacle is not grounded, here are a couple of suggestions. First turn off the power to your receptacle. remove the wall plate that covers the bare wire terminals inside the outlet box. Look inside the outlet box and see if you can see if their is a colored wire (red, black, blue, ect,,) attached to the brass colored s***w terminal. Then look to see if a white wire is connected to the silver colored s***w. Finally look and see if their is a green or bare copper wire attached to the green s***w terminal. If all these wires are attached where I said then the receptacle is wired properly and further investigation of the problem is needed. If their was not a bare or green wire inside of the outlet box then this is what you should do. You can either pull another 12-2w/G Romex( residential wiring cable) to your outlet box and attach your plug to it by putting all three wires where I mentioned earlier. Then you will need to attach the other ended in the electrical panel or juntion box in the attic or under the house wherever it may be, attaching all three wires with their corresponding colors. If you decide to land the wires in the panel you will need to first make sure you have a 20 amp breaker available. Attach the black wire to the breaker(MAKE SURE THE BREAKER IS IN THE OFF POSITION!!!!!!!!!) Next attach the ground wire to the ground bus, then the nuetral or white wire to the nuetral buss. Check to see whether or not the neutral and ground buss are electrically bonded together, this is usually done with an S shaped heavy guage copper wire that a s***w is ran though and through the nuetral buss grounding it to the panel therefore bonding it to the ground buss. If this is the case then it wont matter Which buss you land your nuetral and ground wires on as they will be both earth grounded. Turn your breaker on and try this to see if it fixes your problem. The buzzing you are hearing is caused by harmonic return voltages on your nuetral which is most likely because inside your panel the nuetral and ground buss are not bonded. If you already have a ground wire on your recptacle  and it is landed on the nuetral buss which is not bonded it will send unwanted harmonic voltages off off every other electrical appliance that is being used in the house as their is no earth ground for these voltages to disipate into.. Also one last thing, check to see if your panel is even earth grounded at all. trace out starting at the ground lug on the ground buss to and see if their is a # 8 or larger copper wire landed on it. If their is follow this wire if you can and see if it is connected to a ground rod outside or connected to a cold water pipe coming from your water meter. I hope some of this helps.  

Answer 4

If you have any reservations don't touch or try to fix it. Pay an electrician to come to you and look over the situation. Your life should more than be valuable than not employing an electrician!!!