Turntable ground wire is too short

Hi, 
 
The ground wire for my old turntable is too short.  Can I simply splice another wire to it to extend it 2 more feet before it reaches my amplifier?  Thanks.
 
Rimshot

Yes.
 
The splice may add some minute resistance to ground.
 
If there is a ground loop issue it is usually because the various connections to ground in a system will have minute differences in resistance to ground. Minute is the key word here, so it seems like an answer to your OP question should acknowledge the idea.
 
Go for it one step at a time. It will probably work just fine and if not, you may have a clue as to what can be improved. For example, you can probably trace the ground wire into the chassis and replace it so that it has a little resistance as possible.
 
Don't bother trying to measure for the resistance... the contacts of a most VOM probes have more resistance than the amount that you would need to measure for.
 
 
Have fun with your record collection!
 
best regards,
mike

Ah Kids.  Love it when they go all analog.  Just up in Seattle to see my middle daughter and they have a turntable.  She tried to drag a bunch of our college albums back.  I had to limit her to the repeats for the most part - stuff both me and my wife had.  She also wanted an australian press Nancy Sintra best of I picked up in NY 20 years ago but I couldn't let it go even after the "But Daddy" routine. 
 
I picked up some stuff when we went to the EM shop up there - a Cademon of John Donne (wish I still had my Ezra Pound recordings), Ernest Tubb doing gospel (yea, he is a 3rd cousin) and a Momas and Popas, all for about $10.  She, of course, got a $25 Morrisey reprint, which was about what I paid for Nancy 20 years ago.  I would have given her the nancy album if she and her friend hadn't done a sing along to the whole damn Morrisey album.  I gave her Ten Years After's "A Space in Time" and maybe she'll learn to sing along w/ it.  Better shape than my copy.
 
@

Really the best way to get the dust out is a blast of air from a oil-less compressor. Playing the record once and clean the needle. Those cleaning kits , if it's the one with a silky kinda wiper, get dirty real fast and then you are actually scratching the record. 
 

As long as the ground wire isn't 40 feet long or something crazy it will be fine to splice in a longer section.
 
I finally got around to unpacking and setting up my turntable after a recent move. Luckily, I still have my old 70's-80's discwasher. While a few albums have some pops or a little "bacon frying" there are some songs that just don't sound right without the static. :)  Of course, I had to teach the kids, that are old enough, how to properly handle albums - they are too spoiled on CD's.
 
Are there any record companies still pressing vinyl? While I have pretty much replaced my album collection with MP3's, I would still like to get some replacement albums for those that are the most needle burned.

A very good system of record cleaning is here and it is Australian. This guy was on The Inventors here and won an award for it:
 
http://recordrevirginizer.com/index.html
 
You apply a coating on one side at a time and overnight it dries into a rubber like thing that you peel off the next morning and all the dirt and dust and stuff sticks to it and comes out when you peel it away. Completely harmless to the record.
 
Be aware of using strange things like toothpaste. Never heard of that. You would have to get it all well and truly out if you did not want your precious stylus to be scraping through and residue. Toothpaste is also abrasive and could damage the record groove if handled the wrong way.

I have had a turntable for a very long time since the 70's. A Technics direct drive SL1300 Mk II fitted with its very own very nice arm. SME make the best headshells and the ultimate pickup for me is the Shure V15 Type III. (tracking at 1 gram or under at 0.75) Ortofon also make an amazing cartridge too called the SL15. I have got a rather nice British RIAA equaliser preamp too worth over $1000 back then and it sounds like it too.
 
The last genuine Shure VN35E stylus cost me a cool $500! Enough to buy a decent DAW! The arm is so nice bearing wise if you balance the arm to be floating in the air and you blow a decent puff of air from 15 feet or so from the turntable the arm will respond a second or two later and swing in towards the centre. (standard Hi Fi test, can your arm do that!)
 
I have records that have only been played to this day on that system and they still sound the same now as they did back then. I have got a pristine copy of Dark Side of the Moon which is dead silent in the groove and the music sounds so clear and incredible. No clicks, plops or groove wall noise! Just the music and the music gets very quiet on that album at times too. It is at the other end of the spectrum in terms of noise.
 
Sheffield Labs albums from around the 80's that feature that direct link between a live studio recording and the cutting lathe sound incredible too. You would not believe how transient the record groove can be. Michael Jacksons' 'Thriller' sounds pretty cool too. All those live Miles Davis albums sound incredible as does early electronic music like Kraftwerk or Jean Michelle Jarre, Tangerine Dream. All sound pretty fat on vinyl.
 
I have picked up a copy of John Lennon's 'Double Fantasy' after reading that book 'Lennon' by Tim Riley. I am amazed at how fantastic that record sounds on my turntable. Lennon was pushing the boundaries of the late 70's sound or early 80's sound for sure. It is so funky in parts and the mix sounds killer.
 
The turntable ground wire is important and its job is to ground the actual arm itself because the 4 very thin wires that are in there making their journey from the pickup cartridge to the base of the arm are travelling that distance unshielded except for the arm itself acts a shield.