Can Static Destroy Electronics?

Touching the AC metal case of any of your equipment will quickly discharge you. If you don't want a shock use a wrist band that adds a 1M resistor to limit current (same as the mat). 

I checked the outlet with a socket checker device, and it indicated that the ground was good. It’s a device with three lights on it: two yellow and one red. When I plugged it into the socket my main power conditioner is normally plugged into, I got 2 yellows, no red. 

Just realizing something...the Technics SL-1200 turntable outlet plug does not have a ground pin. Neither the Dynavector nor the Trichord phono preamps have a ground pin on their plugs either. Thus, if I am grounding the turntable to a device that also doesn't have a ground, I essentially have no path to ground for those devices. I always though the turntable should have its ground wire connected to the phono preamp, but is that just wrong? How do you guys ground your turntables/phono preamps?

Follow-up question: if I ground the turntable to a chassis screw on the amplifier, should I *also* ground my phono preamp to the chassis of the amp? Same screw, or different screw?

Try it and see. Those grounds are all the same. That is, the ground on the phono stage is chassis ground, whether its the ground screw used or any other screw that goes into the chassis. Same for the amp. These all go to ground. 

Where you can run into problems is they all go to ground but not the same path. If everything were perfect, zero resistance across the board, then it wouldn't matter. Where there is even a small differential though, then some current goes one way, some another, and this is where the hum comes in. That is why the recommendation to have everything on one circuit. This ensures every path to ground is the same and so tends to be very quiet. 

But people can often times get away with violating this rule and not notice problems. Better lucky than good, eh? 

Phono stages are the highest gain and greatest EQ in all of audio. Orders of magnitude greater. The same exact imperfections that will never show up with other components can have you at the end of your wits with phono. To the point where even when you understand everything going on it still sometimes comes down to try it and see.