A French singer recently got electrocuted on stage so it’s in the back of my mind after having read this:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ne...ge-electrocuted.html

Myself and some fellow impromptu band members will be playing on a raised wooden patio deck for a Labor Day weekend residential back yard get together. The patio deck is our makeshift “stage”. I’m the bass guitar player. I will be using a three prong amplifier plugged into a house 110 V outlet. So will the guitarist and vocalist.

Questions: If the wooden patio deck gets wet or is damp from rain from the night before, is it safe to play on? As far as I know, wood does not conduct electricity or can it? Should we plug the amps into GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) outlets? Will placing an area rug on top of damp/wet wood prevent us from getting zapped?

Between shock possibility and COVID social distancing, I’m considering backing out of this.

Plug in through a portable GFCI and you'll be well protected. Probably not a bad idea in any event with the way sound equipment gets knocked around.

This one is about $25 at Home Depot. They are required by code on construction sites.

Yup. I do audio for the high school marching band. We ordered that exact thing that Steve recommended from Amazon and we use it to make sure our equipment and our kids don't get fried when we play in the rain. (We don't take the electronics out in the pouring rain but we have been known to take them out in a "strong drizzle" - band directors are merciless!!!)

Random band tangent below:


Here's a photo from our state champs a few years ago. It poured (and I mean poured) the entire afternoon while we were in the parking lot - we kept all the electronics under tarps. The kids were soaked through their uniforms, I was soaked through my coat and like 4 layers of clothes under it. It was probably one of the most miserable experiences of my life. The rain tapered down to a strong drizzle just in time for our performace so out we went - you can still see the tarps hanging off the mallet instruments and the rain covers (built out of clear shower curtains) covering the tops of the synthesizer carts to protect the synths. LL#2 is on the bass guitar and he was wearing a giant poncho made out of a painters plastic tarp but we took it off for the performance. His hair is completely soaked and plastered to his head.

The electrical feed for our equipment was located in the blue tent you can just see at the front and we plugged the yellow GFCI thing into their cord and then the rest of our stuff into the yellow GFCI. Everyone lived so I guess we did something right!

Thank you, Steve and Lisa. I’ll be sure we have portable GCFI extension cords on hand.