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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS);faqs.030 1.7 How far do the corps travel? How many competitions? How long is the season? When are the Championships? A typical Open Class corps travels somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 miles during the season, performing in 25 to 35 shows in an eight or nine week period. The season usually begins in the second week in June (the eastern corps tend to start a little later) and culminates in the DCI World Championships, which are always held on the third Saturday in August. 1.8 How can I catch the Championships on TV? PBS usually broadcasts the tape that DCI makes of the Championships (actually, DCI produces two tapes: one of the live show and a highlights film). Each PBS station has the option not to broadcast it for whatever reason (too much already scheduled, not enough interest, etc.). Some stations broadcast it live (on the Saturday of the Championships), while other stations save the tape and broadcast it whenever it is convenient. If your local station does not broadcast it, call them up or write them a letter. It has been my experience that PBS listens to its viewers (especially those who subscribe). As an example, the PBS station in Seattle did not broadcast the Championships, but got so many calls in August and September that they showed it in October. 1.9 How does the scoring work? The current judging system has nine judges, each responsible for a particular aspect of the show. Each caption (as they are called) has a certain number of points allotted to it. The sum of the nine judges' scores determines the overall score of the performance. There are three captions for each of Brass, Percussion, and Visual. The point breakdown is as follows: Brass Percussion Visual Field 10 10 10 Ensemble 10 10 10 General Effect 15 10 15 The Field Brass and Field Percussion judges are the judges that are on the field during a performance and are primarily looking at individual technique and execution of the book. They are the judges who nit-pick at things such as overblowing, non-uniform sticking, bad releases, etc. The Field Visual judge watches the execution of the color guard and the marching of the brass and percussion performers. Spacing, uniformity, and execution are what this judges looks for. The Ensemble Brass and Percussion judges sit up in the press box. They are responsible for judging how each area (Brass or Percussion, respectively) performs technically as an ensemble. Musicality, intonation, dynamics, sonority, etc. are the things these judges look for. The Ensemble Visual judge tries to assess the ability of the entire corps to effectively present visual ideas. The General Effect judges assess the overall effectiveness of each area in the final product. This is where entertainment and "special effects" play a big role. It is also an area where the design of the show itself is being evaluated. Why was this picture presented after this music statement? What is the effect of having the percussion feature and its mood following the ballad with its mood? These are the kinds of questions that are raised and the kinds of things that are assessed by the General Effect (GE) judges. 1.10 What is a legal bugle? For competitive purposes (i.e. at DCI competitions), a bugle is defined as follows: "By the word `bugle' as used herein is meant a straight bell-front brass instrument pitched in the key of G. All instruments shall have no more than three (3) valves except for the contrabass bugle, which may have four (4)." This is quoted from Drum Corps World (January, 1990) which quotes the rule book (Rule 4.3.1). This rule was passed at the 1989 DCI Rules Congress. The rule used to say exactly the same thing, except that all instruments (even contrabasses) could have only two (2) valves. There is an interesting history to what was allowed on the field. At first only valveless bugles were allowed. Then one-valved, piston-rotor, and then two-valved were allowed, in that order. In fact, there used to be only soprano bugles until the baritone bugle, mellophone bugle, French horn bugle, and the contrabass were invented. 1.11 What kind of percussion is allowed? Rule 4.1.1: "All acoustic percussion membrane and keyboard instruments (those not needing electricity to generate sound) are legal." Rule 4.1.2: "Percussion keyboard instruments may use resonators. A self-contained motor that is battery-powered is permitted to be used on vibraphones only. This motor is not to be used for amplification, but rather to produce a vibrato effect by turning the resonator propellers. Electric amplification is not allowed." 1.12 What is the "pit area"? It is the area between the 35 yard lines on the front side line ten feet deep (outside the playing field, toward the audience). Basically, this area is an extension of the field. Any piece of equipment can be brought into or out of the pit area to or from the "normal" playing field. Corps typically use this area to place stationary percussion instruments, such as chimes, keyboard instruments, tympani, gongs, etc. It is also used sometimes to store color guard equipment. Some drill writers have used the pit area for performers to march through. 1.13 How long is each show? Each corps' performance is supposed to last between 10 and 11 1/2 minutes. There is a 0.1 point penalty for each 6 seconds above or below these limits. A typical show consisting of 7 corps will last about three hours. Usually, the winner of the show will do an encore performance while standing still (i.e. not marching). These kinds of performances are known as standstill performances. 1.14 What are all those strange abbreviations and/or nicknames people keep using when writing about drum corps? It's a lot easier to use an abbreviation or nickname than to have to type the entire corps name every time. Here is a short table of abbreviations: BD = Blue Devils (Concord, CA) Boston = Boston Crusaders (Boston, MA) Cadets or Garfield = Cadets of Bergen County (Hackensack, NJ) (they used to be called the Garfield Cadets until 1989) Cavies = Cavaliers (Rosemont, IL) Madison or Scouts = Madison Scouts (Madison, WI) PR or Phantom = Phantom Regiment (Rockford/Loves Park, IL) SCV or Vanguard = Santa Clara Vanguard (Santa Clara, CA) Sky = Sky Ryders (De Soto, TX) Spirit = Spirit of Atlanta (Atlanta, GA) Star = Star of Indiana (Bloomington, IN) Suncoast = Suncoast Sound (Pinillas Park, FL) VK or Velvet = Velvet Knights (Anaheim, CA) 27 = the 27th Lancers (a defunct corps from Revere, MA) Other abbreviations include: contra = contrabass bugle bari or bary = baritone bugle sop = soprano bugle DM = drum major GE = general effect 1.15 Why do people keep misspelling things? Because they want to be like Dan Quayle. Seriously though, here is a small set of things people commonly misspell. Bluecoats (the corps from Canton, OH) Sky Ryders (the corps from DeSoto, TX) drum corps (TWO words) corps (singular, pronounced "CORE") corps (plural, pronounced "CORZ") corps' (possessive, pronounced "CORZ") There is no such word 'corp'. 1.16 What corps have won the DCI World Championships and in what years? 1972 Anaheim Kingsmen (Anaheim, CA) 1973-74 Santa Clara Vanguard (Santa Clara, CA) 1975 Madison Scouts (Madison, WI) 1976-77 Blue Devils (Concord, CA) 1978 Santa Clara Vanguard 1979-80 Blue Devils 1981 Santa Clara Vanguard 1982 Blue Devils 1983-85 Garfield Cadets (Garfield, NJ) 1986 Blue Devils 1987 Garfield Cadets 1988 Madison Scouts 1989 Santa Clara Vanguard 1990 Cadets of Bergen County (formerly Garfield Cadets) (Hackensack, NJ) 1991 Star of Indiana (Bloomington, IN) 1992 Cavaliers (Rosemont, IL) 2.0 Corps addresses and drum corps publications compiled by Michael Fath 2.1 Current active corps 2.1.1 Junior corps (from 1991 Finals Program and DCW) Academie Musicale, 3086 Galt Ouest, Sherbrooke, PQ Canada JIK IM2 819-820-0452 Black Gold, P.O. Box 54283, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74155 918-838-9700 Blue Devils, P.O. Box 21516, 4065 Nelson Ave., Concord, CA 94521 510-689-2918 Blue Knights, P.O. Box 100789, Denver, CO 80250 303-730-1919 Bluecoats, 7570 Angel Rd., North Canton, Ohio 44720 216-494-5720 Boston Crusaders, 235 Goddard Avenue, Brookline, MA 02146 617-723-8741 Cadets of Bergen County, P.O. Box 8, Hackensack, NJ 07602 201-487-5797 Cavaliers, P.O. Box 501, Rosemont, IL 60018 312-247-3440 or 312-763-4410 Colts, P.O. Box 515, Dubuque, Iowa 52001 319-582-4872 Crossmen, 6424 Roosevelt Ave., Pennsauken, NJ 08109 609-488-7128 Dutch Boy, P.O. Box 842, Kitchner, Ontario Canada N2G 4C5 519-744-3291 Freelancers, 7257 East Southgate Dr., Sacramento, CA 95823 916-428-4016 Glassmen, 610 East Broadway, Toledo, Ohio 43605 419-478-4845 L'Insolite, P.O. Box 332, Saint Jerome, Quebec Canada J7Z 5T9 514-634-9587 (inactive in 1992) Madison Scouts, P.O. Box 948, Madison, WI 53701 608-241-3171 (mornings) Magic, P.O. Box 690426, Orlando, FL 32869 407-843-2756 Marauders, 1335-11th Avenue, Longview, WA 98632 206-425-6960 Phantom Regiment, P.O. Box 6653, Rockford, IL 61125 815-96-CORPS Santa Clara Vanguard, 1765 Space Park Dr., Santa Clara, CA 95054 408-727-5534 Sky Ryders, 127 S. Parks, DeSoto, TX 75115 214-223-1883 Spirit of Atlanta, 620 Peachtree St, NE #904, Atlanta, GA 30308 404-875-8715 Star of Indiana, P.O. Box 264, Bloomington, IN 47402 812-876-4903 Troopers, P.O. Box 375, Casper, Wyoming 82602 307-234-7005 or 307-472-2141 Velvet Knights, 1235 S. Knott Ave., Anahiem, CA 92804 714-761-2679 Ventures, 135 Ottawa St., South Kitchener, ONT Canada N2G 3T1 519-896-0055 --- Blue Stars, P.O. Box 2523, LaCrosse, WI 56602-2523 608-782-3219 Kiwanis Kavaliers, P.O. Box 1881, Station C, Kitchener, ONT Canada N2G 4R3 519-740-3893 Mandarins, P.O. Box 22297, Sacramento, CA 95822 916-395-8310 Americanos, 1615 Drum Corps Drive, Menasha, WI 54952 414-772-5543 Railmen, P.O. Box 27105, Ralston, NE 68127 402-292-7421 Northern Aurora, 6730 Bay Road, Saginaw, MI 48604 517-791-4431 The Knights, 6915 E. 74th Ave., Milan, IL 61264 309-799-3767 Southwind, P.O. Box 2361, Montgomery, AL 36102 205-272-1234 Springfield Ambassadors, P.O. Box 8102, Springfield, MA 01138 413-737-2234 Fajardo, 17 Prospect Ave., Dumont, NJ 13208 201-592-3920 Sound of Long Island 516-731-0595 Royal Columbian, P.O. Box 797, Chicopee, MA 01021 413-539-6883 Limited Edition, P.O. Box 16220, Columbus, Ohio 43216 614-755-4941 Capitolaires 608-221-3350 Carolina Crown, 5018 Park Road #244, Charlotte, NC 28209 Mountain Magic, 615 N. 10th St., Huntington, WV 26701 304-523-8627 Patriots 708-748-6226 Royalaires, P.O. Box 1322, Guelph, Ontario Canada H1H 6N8 519-658-2157 Royal Brigade, 3063 Holderhill Lane, Salt Lake City, Utah 84118 801-965-9124 2.1.2 Senior corps in progress 2.2 Drum corps associations DCA - Drum Corps Associates Michael Petrone, 10 Columbus Drive, Monmouth Beach, NJ 07750 908-222-3835 DCD - Drum Corps Deutschland Thomas Rohr, Faselwiese 5, 6700 Ludwigshafen/Rh., Germany 0621-664010 DCE - Drum Corps East Anthony DiCarlo, 246 West Street, South Weymouth, MA 02188 617-331-9500 DCH - Drum Corps Holland Jos Brusse, Farenheitlaan 29, 1222 LM, Lilversum, Netherlands 011-31-78-164512 DCI - Drum Corps International Julie Hoffman, P.O. Box 548, Lombard, IL 60148 708-495-9866 DCM - Drum Corps Midwest Roman Blenski, 4601 West Holt Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53220 414-327-2847 DCNY - Drum Corps New York Carl Pynn, P.O. Box 22, Wampsville, NY 13163 315-363-8889/313-363-1230 DCUK - Drum Corps United Kingdom John Garton c/o The Oliver Hind Club, Edale Road, Sneinton Dale, Nottingham, England NG2 4HT 011-44-602-483200 DCW - Drum Corps West Tom Hope, 372 Florin Road Suite #303, Sacramento, CA 95832 916-429-9545 DCWI - Drum Corps West Indies Junior Ricketts, 375 Pine Street, Brooklyn, NY 11208 718-235-0716 E-Mass - Eastern Massachusetts Elaine Blinn, 18 Jef Road, Billerica, MA 02821 508-667-2443 FAMQ - Federation des Association Musicales du Quebec Carol Plante, P.O. Box 1000, Succursale M, Montreal, Quebec, Canada 514-252-3025 GSC - Garden State Circuit Carmen Cirlincione, 249 Crystal Street, North Arlington, NJ 07032 201-998-4222 IAA - Illinois All-American Aurelia Kmiec, 4622 North Kostner Avenue, Chicago, IL 60630 708-725-8235 ODCA - Ontario Drum Corps Association Lynne Sosnowski, 258 King Street North Suite 12-J, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2J 2Y9 519-746-0042 UDCA - United Drum Corps Association Ralph Parkhill, 523 Montauk Highway, Sayville, NY 11782 516-589-5047 2.3 Drum Corps Publications DCI Today P.O. Box 548, Lombard, IL 60148-0548 1-800-344-2772 or 708-495-9866 Six bi-monthly issues 1st class - $12.00/yr 4th class bulk rate - $6.00 (lifetime subscr. - delivery not guaranteed) Drum Corps World P.O. Box 8052, Madison, WI 53708-8052 1-800-554-9630 20 issues per year 1st class - $60.00/yr 2nd class - $42.00/yr 2.4 Audio and Video 2.4.1 DCI Audio and Video DCI sells cassettes and CD's of recent Championship years. For the cassettes, you can order the top 12 corps' performances (3 tapes) or the top 24 corps (6 tapes). The CD's come in either the 2-disc version (top 14 corps) or the 3-disc version (top 21 corps). The 3-disc CD set costs about $50. You can order through the address and phone no. for DCI above. Individual corps also have recordings of their own corps. The Blue Devils, Santa Clara Vanguard, and Cadets of Bergen County have recordings in one form or another. They may be other corps that do this as well. 800 Video Express is the company that sells videos of all previous championship performances. Any particular years' championship program (top 12 corps) costs $98, and they have all years of DCI. They have other packages, such as a set of tapes that only has performances of the Blue Devils for the past 17 years (substitute "Blue Devils" for your favorite corps). For a complete catalog, contact 800 Video Express. The address of 800 Video Express will be provided the next time this FAQ is posted. [I lied ... if anyone has it handy, send it along to me.] 2.4.2 Future Corps Future Corps is an 11-person drum corps (8 brass, 3 percussion) that performs at Epcot Center. They have a CD out, featuring all sorts of drum corps "favorites". Future corps CD can be gotten by sending a check or money order for $16.95 (postage included) to: Encorps Productions, 1405 Enterprise Road, Deltona, FL 32725 FL residents add $1.02 for tax 3.0 Information on the Current Season compiled by Michael Fath 3.1 1992 Corps Repertoires 1993 corps repertoires are not all set yet. When a semi-complete list is compiled, it will appear here. 3.2 The DCI Tour The 1993 DCI schedule has not been set yet. It usually is determined in April and May just before the season begins. 3.3 Last Season's Finals scores at DCI Finals 1992 (Madison, WI) Div. II/III finals 1. Southwind 92.9 GE, Percussion, Visual 2. Northern Aurora 91.9 3. Carolina Crown 90.5 Brass 4. Kiwanis Kavaliers 87.3 5. Spartans 84.0 1. Mandarins 90.0 2. Pioneer 88.7 3. Blue Stars 82.4 4. Academie Musicale 82.0 5. Suncoast Sound 80.2 6. Capitolaires 77.8 7. St. John's 74.6 Quarterfinals (top 17 advance to Semifinals) (For brevity, the top 17 corps' scores have been omitted. The Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Finals are three separate scores, so that even though a corps was 17th in the Quarterfinals, they might have a lower score in the Semifinals than the 18th place corps' score in the Quarterfinals.) 18. Dutch Boy 77.5 19. Troopers 76.1 20. Colts 75.5 21. Magic 74.1 22. Southwind 73.6 23. Black Gold 72.9 24. Northern Aurora 71.1 25. Carolina Crown 69.7 26. Mandarins 67.8 27. Kiwanis Kavaliers 65.4 Semifinals (top 12 advance to Finals) (For brevity, the top 12 corps' scores have been omitted.) 13. Glassmen 83.9 14. Boston Crusaders 82.2 15. Sky Ryders 82.1 16. Spirit of Atlanta 78.8 17. Marauders 76.7 Finals (in reverse order) 12. Freelancers 83.5 11. Blue Coats 84.6 10. Velvet Knights 86.6 9. Blue Knights 90.0 8. Phantom Regiment 91.5 7. Vanguard 91.8 6. Crossmen 92.2 5. Madison Scouts 93.7 4. Blue Devils 95.4 Aux. 3. Star of Indiana 96.7 Brass 2. Cadets of Bergen Co 97.0 GE 1. Cavaliers 97.5 Visual & Percussion 4.0 How to join a corps Donald Chinn My experience with drum corps has been basically as a spectator. However, I did march in high school marching band (so I have *some* appreciation for how hard the stuff that drum corps do really is :-). Anyway, here's the extent of my knowledge on how to get involved. Junior corps (Blue Devils, Phantom Regiment, etc.) march people who are 21 or younger. A person "ages out" of corps when they become 22. You can legally march at the DCI Championships if you do not turn 22 before the day of the performance. If you are 22 or older, then your only chance to play in a drum corps (legally) is to join a senior drum corps. Senior drum corps are governed by DCA (Drum Corps Associates). If you are still under 22, then the typical way to get involved in drum corps is to contact a drum corps directly. So the big decision is: "Which drum corps should I join?" It depends. If you want to have a reasonable chance at winning the championships, then joining the Blue Devils, Santa Clara Vanguard, Cadets of Bergen County, Phantom Regiment, Star of Indiana, the Cavaliers, or Madison Scouts is the thing to do. If you want to be more involved in a smaller group (or less well-known), you can try some of the 13th-26th place corps, or even a Class A or Class A-60 corps. It seems to me, the things to consider are location, size of the corps, style of music, and reputation of the corps, and the chance at winning it all. For example, if you like jazz, then the Blue Devils is probably where you want to be. If you like classical, then Phantom is the place to be. WARNING: Tryouts for the top corps can be very tough, since everyone wants to be a part of a winning corps. There are basically 3 drum corps associations related to DCI that handle the corps in their region. These are DCE, DCM, and DCW (Drum Corps East, Midwest, and West, respectively). To find out what corps are in what association, you can contact the associations directly. See the section on "Drum corps associations" (section 2.2) for phone numbers. DCI's address and phone is: DCI Box 548 Lombard, IL 60148 (708) 495-9866 There are also a slew of other smaller drum corps associations: Eastern Massachusetts, Drum Corps New York, etc. You can probably ask DCI if you want more info on them. To join a corps, call up one of the associations and find out where the nearest corps in your area are. Or, contact a corps directly (see "Current active corps", section 2.1). Rehearsals: Rehearsals usually begin in the fall (this is certainly true of the top corps). I suspect that when rehearsals begin largely depends on how much money the corps has. During the winter, rehearsals mostly consist of camps held on the weekends (once or twice a month in the fall and more frequently as winter and spring roll around). However, not everyone shows up to these camps, especially if they would have to fly 1000 miles to go to one. This is one reason to join a corps close to where you will be living. The corps you join would provide you with an instrument, probably with some safety deposit on it. Also, most corps require that you pay a fee to join the corps. This is to compensate for uniform cleaning, equipment, food, etc. This fee can be very cheap or very steep anywhere from $200 to $600). When summer arrives (late May, early June), then things really pick up. Rehearsals can last up to 10 hours a day (or more), and the sun beats down unmercifully. Tan lines on the feet are not uncommon. I hear that college students have a rough time going to school and doing corps. The demands placed on corps members are incredible. Stories of almost flunking out are frequent. However, perhaps one can negotiate with the corps director about showing up to rehearsals. If you're really good, they might be lenient. Otherwise, there's no reason for them to save a spot for you with 10 other people who *can* go to rehearsals wanting to get in. I'm not sure when the corps gets cut down to size. Touring: Corps travel thousands of miles each summer, and the bus rides can be as long as 12 hours. Usually, you roll into some town at 1am and sleep in their high school gym for 8 hours or so (you bring a sleeping bag!). Food is usually prepared by volunteers for the corps. Then you rehearse in the day, do a show (or do laundry), and the cycle repeats. There are numerous parties, as well. 5.0 Percussion notation used in alt.drumcorps Contributed by Mike Hughes The following (I believe) is the final version of the rythymic notation scheme developed by percussionists who contribute to alt.drumcorps. The notation scheme incorporates different rudiments and techniques utilized in modern drum and bugle corps. A key to the notation is as follows: . = single stroke tap , = flam ; = cherta (flam + drag) > = accent ^ = rimshot : = double stroke, or bounce stroke as used in open rolls z = buzz or press stroke as used in buzz rolls _ = rest (value depending on the pulse of the figure) | = barline Meter shall be indicated by common musical metric symbols, e.g., 3/4 indicating 3 beats in a bar, quarter note gets the beat. Unless otherwise indicated, the pulse of a figure is assumed to be 16th note pulse for any quarter note-based meter (i.e., x/4), 8th notes for any eighth noted based meter (i.e., x/8), etc. Variations from the standard pulse, such as triplet or sextuplet figures, shall be indicated by -3- or ---6---, etc. Spaces may be used to separate beats to enhance the readability of the music. Dynamics shall be indicated by the usual pp, mf, ff, etc., as well as cresc. and dim. to indicate crescendos and decrescendos. <<<<<<<<< and >>>>>>> may also be used. Sticking may be indicated under the note/rest notation using R and L. The following example illustrates the system using an excerpt from the *Channel One Suite* drum solo as played by the 1986 Blue Devils: > > > > > ---6--- ---6--- ---6--- |4 zzzz zzzz zzzz zzzz |2 zzzz zz._ |3 ... ... ... ... ... ... |4 |4 |4 |4 |4 pp cresc<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< > > > > > > > > > > > > |4 ,.., ...: :._. ,_,_ | ,.., ...: :.:: ._,_ | |4 R L L | R L R | <<<ff Xref: bloom-picayune.mit.edu misc.consumers.house:40799 rec.woodworking:17392 news.answers:4694 Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!micro-heart-of-gold.mit.edu!xn.ll.mit.edu!ames!olivea!uunet!uunet.ca!ecicrl!clewis From: clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca (Chris Lewis) Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house,rec.woodworking,news.answers Subject: Electrical Wiring FAQ Summary: A series of questions and answers about house wiring Message-ID: <wirefaq_724656078@ecicrl> Date: 18 Dec 92 05:21:34 GMT Expires: 15 Jan 93 05:21:18 GMT Reply-To: wirefaq@ferret.ocunix.on.ca (Wiring FAQ commentary reception) Followup-To: poster Organization: Elegant Communications Inc., Ottawa, Canada Lines: 1504 Approved: news-answers-request@mit.edu Supersedes: <wirefaq_723446475@ecicrl> Archive-name: electrical-wiring Last-modified: Wed Dec 9 03:16:27 EST 1992 Frequently Asked Questions on Electrical Wiring Steven Bellovin (smb@ulysses.att.com) Chris Lewis (clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca) Comments to (automatic if you reply to this article): wirefaq@ferret.ocunix.on.ca This FAQ is formatted as a digest. Most news readers can skip from one question to the next by pressing ^G. Answers to many other topics related to houses can be obtained from the misc.consumers.house archive; send an empty piece of mail to house-archive@dg-rtp.dg.com for information. Changes to previous issue marked with "|" in left column. Watch particularly for "NEW" in the Questions list for new or substantively changed answers. Note that this is now a registered FAQ - cross-posted to news.answers and should appear in the FAQ list of lists. Subject: Questions answered in this FAQ Introduction/Disclaimers What is the NEC? Where can I get a copy? What is the CEC? Where can I get a copy? | Can I do my own wiring? Extra pointers? What do I need in the way of tools? What is UL listing? What is CSA approval? Are there any cheaper, easier to read books on wiring? Inspections how and what? Why should I get my wiring inspected? My house doesn't meet some of these rules and regulations. | A word on voltages: 110/115/117/120/125/220/240 (NEW) What does an electrical service look like? What is a circuit? "grounding" versus "grounded" versus "neutral". What does a fuse or breaker do? What are the differences? Breakers? Can't I use fuses? What size wire should I use? Where do these numbers come from? What does "14-2" mean? What is a "wirenut"/"marrette"/"marr connector". How are they used? What is a GFI/GFCI? Where should GFCIs be used? Where shouldn't I use a GFCI? What is the difference between a GFCI outlet and a GFCI breaker? What's the purpose of the ground prong on an outlet, then? Why is one prong wider than the other? Polarization What kind of outlets do I need in a kitchen? Where must outlets and switches be in bathrooms? What is Romex/NM/NMD? What is BX? When should I use each? Should I use plastic or metal boxes? Junction box positioning? Can I install a replacement fixture? What does it mean when the lights brighten when a motor starts? What is 3 phase power? Should I use it? Can I get it in my house? Is it better to run motors at 110 or 220? What is this nonsense about 3HP on 110V 15A circuits? How do I convert two prong receptacles to three prong? Are you sure about GFCIs and ungrounded outlets? Should the test button work? How should I wire my shop? Underground wiring Aluminum wiring I'm buying a house! What should I do? What is this weird stuff? Old style wiring Where do I buy stuff? Subject: Introduction/Disclaimers Although we've done a fair bit of wiring, we are not electricians, and we cannot be responsible for what you do. If you're at all uncertain about what is correct or safe, *don't do it*. Contact someone qualified -- a licensed electrician, or your local electrical inspector. Electricity is no joke; mistakes can result in shocks, fires, or electrocution. Furthermore, our discussion is based on the U.S. National Electrical Code (NEC) and the Canadian Electrical code (CEC). To the best of our abilities, we have confirmed every detail with the electrical code, but we don't quote sections simply to keep this thing readable. If you think we're wrong, we invite you to correct us, but please - quote references! The NEC and the CEC do not, in and of themselves, have the force of law. Many municipalities adopt it en toto. Others, however, do not. Check your with your local building department (and <provincial> Hydro Inspection Offices in Canada) to find out what applies in your area. Also, your local electrical utility may also have special requirements for electrical service installation. Bear in mind, too, that we say here applies primarily to ordinary single-family residences. Multi-family dwellings, mobile homes, commercial establishments, etc., are sometimes governed by different rules.