Electrician's advice wanted: safely lifting ground

The danger from electric shock depends on several factors including but not limited to the persons own electrophysiology, the impedance of the person at the time, and the current path through the body. None of these depend on the potential. For example, an arm to arm path will result in more current flowing through the heart than most other paths and put you at more risk of vfib - not a fun thing. While a GFCI provides protection (in a different manner than a grounded chassis) the question to really ask is why are you using equipment that is so poorly designed that you have to lift the ground to avoid hum? And, no, hum is not unavoidable and "just part of the unique, wild and dangerous life of the audiophile." In short, there is no excuse or valid reason for placing yourself at any additional risk in this regard. Remember, there are those who in bygone days would use pennies rather than fuses in their panel. Just because something works (look ma, the lectrics on and ain't never gonna blow that penny, plus we done saved 14 cents on the fuse) doesn't mean its a good idea (darn ma, the house burnt down, with junior long with it - oh well, them's the breaks). Do not defeat safety grounding, don't smoke, use your seat belt, avoid crack - just common sense.