Watching the sparks fly

[Doug Hoople]

Wow! Who knew?

In a bout of insomnia, in the wee hours, practicing in the dark to improve my skills at playing without looking at the fingerboard, I started noticing very faint flashes under my fingertips, so faint that they barely registered, and infrequently enough that it took about an hour to finally pay attention.

What I think I'm looking at are very faint static discharges between my fretting fingers and the strings!

When I play, the sparks fly! :)

[JEStanek]

Are you sure your signifigant other hasn't hooked your chair up to an outlet to cure your MAS via electro shock therapy? ;)

Jamie

[Ken Berner]

Must have been some sulfurous words to the song!

[Doug Hoople]

Are you sure your signifigant other hasn't hooked your chair up to an outlet to cure your MAS via electro shock therapy? ;)

Jamie

Now that you mention it, Jamie, I wouldn't put it past her. She is, after all, a desperate woman. :)

[Jim Roberts]

Doug:

Did you drop allot of acid in your youth?

[Doug Hoople]

Doug:

Did you drop allot of acid in your youth?

It's hardly worth dignifying this swipe with a "No, Jim, I didn't."

[pjlama]

there was a thread a while back on this, very interesting.

[250sc]

lol. I guess you're still not playing without looking. Even in the dark you try to see what your left hand is doing.

If it is static electricity you should check you're humidity.

[Jim Roberts]

It's hardly worth dignifying this swipe with a "No, Jim, I didn't."

Swipe? It wasn't a swipe...just an attempt at humor. Guess you didn't have your hug this morning. Sorry if it offended you.

[Doug Hoople]

Swipe? It wasn't a swipe...just an attempt at humor. Guess you didn't have your hug this morning. Sorry if it offended you.

That's what the emoticons are for. Unfortunately, I know plenty of people who would have meant that in all seriousness. I'm glad it was meant in jest.

[Alex Orr]

Could it be from the strings hitting the frets?

[Ted Eschliman]

Are you sure your signifigant other hasn't hooked your chair up to an outlet to cure your MAS via electro shock therapy?
Jamie

Jamie, this is a pretty irresponsible statement. Some of our spouses actually read this board, and don't need to be given this sort of suggestion. Now I'll never be able to sit down to practice without checking under the seat...

[allenhopkins]

Static electricity. Right? Could be a warning that your mandolin's in a pretty dry environment...

[Steve Ostrander]

If you chew a wintergreen Lifesaver (insert mandolin content here) while playing your mandolin in a dark room in front of a mirror, you will see sparks in your mouth.

Don't ask me how I know this.

[Santiago]

Try this while putting Mentos into a bottle of Coca Cola... bot don't do it with your Loar.

[billkilpatrick]

yeah ... m'gonna try it.

static electricity would be discharged just once, right? ... assuming you built it up by slipping out of bed and into a robe (woolen, perhaps?) might be that the sleeve of your right arm built up static electricity as you were picking but that wouldn't explain why the sparks were flying from the fingers of your left hand.

could calloused (dry, smooth) fingertips, sliding up and down metal strings cause static electricity?

what kind of metal are your strings made of?

[Doug Hoople]

could calloused (dry, smooth) fingertips, sliding up and down metal strings cause static electricity?

what kind of metal are your strings made of?

J74s. Phosphor bronze.

I'd put my money on the fingertips sliding up and down the strings. As already mentioned, this happened as late as an hour into playing, and my left arm doesn't move much, so a staticky bathrobe probably wouldn't have done it.

[woodwizard]

That's pretty strange...never heard of anything like that happening before. You think maybe I've just never noticed it?

[billkilpatrick]

J74s. Phosphor bronze.

I'd put my money on the fingertips sliding up and down the strings. As already mentioned, this happened as late as an hour into playing, and my left arm doesn't move much, so a staticky bathrobe probably wouldn't have done it.

phosphor! ... ah-Ha!:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphor

[billkilpatrick]

That's what the emoticons are for. Unfortunately, I know plenty of people who would have meant that in all seriousness. I'm glad it was meant in jest.

ironic ... as the original smiley was a symbol for sunshine acid.

you needn't ask how i know this.

[JeffD]

What I think I'm looking at are very faint static discharges between my fretting fingers and the strings!

When I play, the sparks fly! :)


I would be very careful. I am reminded of this thread:

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38402&highlight=exploding+pick

[Jim Roberts]

[QUOTE=billkilpatrick;584701]ironic ... as the original smiley was a symbol for sunshine acid.

Thanks, Bill...I wasn't going to say anything more so as not to offend the PC's here. I remember seeing a full sheet of "Mr. Sunshine" at a Greatful Dead concert in San Francisco once upon a time. I am sure there were sparks flying (on topic) for those who imbibed...shoot, for all I know, they were also probably hearing mandolins playing in their heads and saw sparks (faint flashes) shooting from under their fingertips!

[Doug Hoople]

I would be very careful. I am reminded of this thread:

http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38402&highlight=exploding+pick

My imagination's not good enough to make this up. The explanation could be more prosaic, for all I know, but I definitely saw this with my own two eyes.

[Doug Hoople]

ironic ... as the original smiley was a symbol for sunshine acid.

you needn't ask how i know this.

LOL. That's fantastically ironic!

[woodwizard]

All right! now you guys did it. All these years I've been trying to train myself to not look at the fret board that much while I'm playing and now I'm going to have to look for sparks. THANKS :grin:

[man dough nollij]

I live in the static capitol of the world. I had a polar fleece jacket that I would occasionally wear under my Big Red parka. Take the parka off, and the fleece held enough charge to shoot out a 6-inch spark from my hand to whatever metal I got near. Best to make sure that metal is not a wired mouse or I-Pod. That caused some frying of a completely different kind...

[Bertram Henze]

Just another theory:

Wound strings are made of two different metals - a steel core and phosphor bronze windings. Adding the right sort of finger sweat (maybe a little on the acid side - strictly chemical) enables a electrochemical reaction, like in a battery. The obvious chemical effect we all know: corrosion. But I always wondered if it was possible to observe the electrical battery effect too - maybe this is it?

Bertram

[Doug Hoople]

Just another theory...

But I always wondered if it was possible to observe the electrical battery effect too - maybe this is it?

Bertram

Interesting thought. My wife and I lived on a wooden boat for several years, and became well aquainted at a very visceral level with the requirements for electrolysis (the battery effect). Salt water had to come into contact with two dissimilar metals that were also connected by yet another electrical pathway, so any metal sticking through the hull underwater was a candidate for a circuit with any other metal sticking through the hull underwater. Classic problem on a boat, and we had to spend a part of almost every day coming to grips with it (wooden boats are especially susceptible, for reasons that are way too arcane to get into here).

Mandolin content: The steel and the phosphor bronze in J74s are dissimilar enough to generate an electrolyitic current (albeit a very small one). But the steel core is buried under the phosphor bronze winding, which does, of course, provide that metal-to-metal leg of the circuit. And the winding is most likely tight enough to seal the steel core inside. The core is, therefore, not coming into contact with the sweat to form the final leg of the circuit.

Unless, of course, the windings are not that tight and the finger sweat actually penetrates to the steel core, and then all bets are off! :)

[Bertram Henze]

...Unless, of course, the windings are not that tight and the finger sweat actually penetrates to the steel core, and then all bets are off! :)

I guess that might be the case, or else contact corrosion would not happen either. Even if the windings are tight enough on a new string, they get damaged at critical points like the nut, the bridge and where they hit the frets.

Bertram