This is the kind of thing that keeps me up at night

[SoulFetish]

This is was inside the chassis of an old yamaha amp for Boston College which came in today. If it isn’t clear from the picture, this is the mains ac wiring.





I would like to submit this as exhibit A in my bid to have a sticky made about safe and proper mains wiring and equipment earth grounding.

[The Dude]

That defies words!

[galaxiex]

I've seen similar... not that bad but same MO.

Twisted wires and black tape...

Scares the bejeezus outta me.

[Enzo]

Sadly, people who do that are not likely reading stickies on safe wiring.

[DrGonz78]

Uh.... Exhibit A?? That is like Exhibit ABC!!

[J M Fahey]

Hey, Lead is toxic and Tin develops whiskers so most echologically safe connection is twisting copper to copper.

[Chuck H]

Darwinian theory at work.

[SoulFetish]

Darwinian theory at work.

Well, this certainly is one way to cull the herd.

I mean, dude, how often do you just plug in and power up when you show up for a jam or whatever without even thinking about it. Even at the shop, we don't pull the chassis every time before before we apply power (even if we us the variac for precautionary measures). I kind of prefer having a look before, but.. the reality is I'm trying to be as efficient as possible because someone has to bill my hours. It's not always practical to pull the chassis and then try and get an amp to exhibit the issue we're trying to fix. Plus, this is the dangerous exception. You wouldn't expect to see something like this in a 15 year old Hot Rod Deluxe. But that doesn't mean it isn't in there.
I only pulled the chassis first thing because of it was such a piece of shit in it's current condition and the customer wanted to know if it was worth repairing.

Anyways, back to being lucky... I was thinking about how many players having no idea they were millimeters away from that power cord rotating the wrong way, the earth wires separating, and the chassis connection going live. Or even more likely causing a fire because that was before the fuse.
Makes me think about a conversation I had with a good friend of mine when we were in his shop years ago. I was just starting out, and he was trying to reinforce the need to stay alert and cautious always when working on electronic equipment. He warned me not to assume something is safe because it should be and told me "Never bet your life on somebody else doing their job." I don't even know if he remembers saying that to me, but it was a simple thing which had an impact and stuck with me.

[Chuck H]

"Never bet your life on somebody else doing their job."

Sigged.

[Randall]

I've gotten amps in with that shit on the 'outside' of the chassis.

[nosaj]

I've gotten amps in with that shit on the 'outside' of the chassis.

Don't they know Duct Tape works better for that stuff?

nosaj

[xtian]

I laughed so hard when I found my first fuse wrapped in aluminum foil. Not so much the second time.

[Justin Thomas]

No tinfoil yet, just a few 20A fuses...

Justin

[drewl]

My friend still kids me about using tin foil on his Bassman.

Hey, we were 15!