having to put my foot down

I've spent much of the morning recording - or rather, trying to record - some guitar tracks.  My guitar has a built-in pickup so it should be easy peasy - just plug it in, hit the record button and play.  Of course, 'should' is the hint here that easy peasy it was not.

There's a loud hum coming from the recorder when the guitar is plugged in.  Nothing I do seems to alleviate it.  I try different leads, different inputs .... blah blah blah........ Eventually I try this black box.  I don't really know what it does - we use it when we gig for connecting instruments and microphones to the PA system.  I wire it up and hey presto - same problem.

Anniemay wanders into the room to ask (i) how it's going and (ii) have I made coffee yet?  I pick the box up to explain the problem and hey presto - silence.  It put it down.  Hum.  Pick it up - silence.  Down, hum.... up, silence.  You get the idea.

It finally dawns on me that in picking it up, I'm earthing the circuit through my body.  I finally manage to finish recording by keeping one (bare) foot on the box as I play.  

I've recreated this for my blip, but have spared you the sight of my naked foot.  You'd thank me for it.