Seriously, making cables is AWESOME!

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guitarslinger

guitarslinger

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Since some good Samaritan on here taught me about the conductive shield, I have been on a cable-making frenzy.

So far, I've made speaker cables that beat the shit out of anything I've tried. I'm using some huge gauge redco stuff with the big neutrik ends.

I've made some mini cables with the Canare GS-4 and normal neutrik ends that sound as good as any full-size cable. It works great in the rack or on the pedal board.

I've made some 20+ foot instrument cables with the redco TGS-HD with normal Neutrik ends that just rock my socks off. It sounds killer, and it's nice and flexible without being tangly.


This is the real ultimate power. My local guitar friends are just wowed by this ability I have.

Every one of these cables would cost $20+ at the store, and not even sound close.

Damn, this rocks! :rock: :rock: :rock: :rock:
 
Share your info/knowledge with us too and then you can be a good Samaritan as well! I'm going to build a few cables and I've never done anything like it before (soldering), so any tips or advice on what to do is always welcome.
 
Tips:

1. In this picture, you can see the black shield between the woven copper shield and the clear plastic shield. That MUST be stripped. Make SURE it doesn't touch your tip connection.

tgs-hd2.jpg

This is explained in detail @
http://www.redco.com/shopexd.asp?id=965

It's easier said than done. Make sure you buy a nice wire stripper at your local hardware store.

2. Spend the $100 for a good, temp-controlled soldering station like the Weller WES-51 seen here.

148674_03092007535_ExhibitPic.jpg


3. Always "tin" your connections. This just means "melt solder onto the bare wire and the spot to where you're soldering it".

4. a nice set of needle nose pliers will get as much use as any other tool you own.


That's about it. except

5. MAKE SURE you put the barrel of the jack on the cable before you solder the ends on.
 
I too got on a cable make trip. Bought a Weller soldering iron, Moghami cable, Neutrik ends. Then I found myself without enough hands! Bought this thing called a Helping Hand which is a few alligator clips which slide on 3 arms that you can manipulate. I like Neutrik jacks, but they are much tougher to solder to. Took a lot of practice to get good at it though. The first few looked like bird shit :confused:.
 
Haha never been called a good samaritan before :D :rock:

Glad it worked though and fixed the problem before!!

Im just about to make about a dozen cables for my rack system today :thumbsup:

Hooked my CAE Line mixer up and put my Boss SE-70, Intellifex and G-Major in there.. Gonna whip up some cool 80's Landau/Luke/Huff type sounds via a W/D/W setup!! :rock: :rock:
 
guitarslinger":1228615f said:
vultures":1228615f said:
Start a small cable company :thumbsup: :rock:
Click to expand...

I've considered that :rock: :rock: :rock: :rock:
Click to expand...

I have considered that to, maybe we need to go into business together.

I am pretty fast at making guitar cables and I have made a bunch for the guitarist's and bassist's I know. I use a small vice to hold the connector. Also another tip, make sure you put on the barrel of the connector before you solder, not a big deal if you forget on the 1st end, but a big deal if you forget on the 2nd as you have to unsolder an end to get it on.

I also have done mic, 1/4 balanced, and speaker cables. I find the balanced cables to be a pain, they take about 2X as long as the unbalanced instrument cables.

A Big +1 on the Weller soldering iron, it is so much easier to use than the $15 POS I was using before....
 
i've got a 4 inch vice and a set of helping hands i use when soldering stuff. instead of using the magnifying lens on the helping hands i have a lighted magnifying boom arm that i can move wherever i need it. picked it up a harbor freight.. or someplace like that.. for cheap. what i like about it is that i have plenty of room to work and it doesn't get in my way like the lens on the helping hands. i'm thinking about getting the next size larger hands with bigger clips. that way i can use them together if i need to and i have two sizes to choose from.
 
Yeah, this is easily the best way to go. I've been doing this for about 5 years or so. It's very simple and a good intro to soldering if you haven't done much before....the repetition of doing a bunch of cables builds the basic skill pretty quick.

The money you save is crazy. I've used the thin George L's cable for rack stuff and the Canare GS-6(I think) for regular cables. I've always used Switchcraft ends...their quick, easy and reliable and pretty inexpensive. You'll probably spend less than you would buying the cheap cables from a store and you get the EXACT lengths and types of end combos you need with whatever quality cable you choose to use. Doesn't get much better than that :rock:
 
steve_k":kvq97mi4 said:
I too got on a cable make trip. Bought a Weller soldering iron, Moghami cable, Neutrik ends. Then I found myself without enough hands! Bought this thing called a Helping Hand which is a few alligator clips which slide on 3 arms that you can manipulate. I like Neutrik jacks, but they are much tougher to solder to. Took a lot of practice to get good at it though. The first few looked like bird shit :confused:.
Click to expand...

Even though the Mogami is a breeze to strip, I found it about 2X as hard to get solder to stick to it vs. the canare and redco stuff.
 
I learned to make cables at the ripe age of 16 once I bought my first electric... the shitty Peavey cables I used back then ALWAYS failed so I didn't really have a choice! :D
 
Man I need some new 20 ft guitar cables and maybe a few 10ft ones as well. Everytime I go to the shop in town I get the by this cable cause is warrantied for life. If it fails just bring it back. I think ok, then I see the sticker and think, hmmm... maybe not lol.

Dave where are you getting spools of wire from to make your own cables if you don't mind me asking?
 
guitarslinger":1qzcmlfg said:
[...]
This is the real ultimate power. My local guitar friends are just wowed by this ability I have.
[...]
Click to expand...

We are too, and now you've gotten some practice, you can make me a few. :gethim:

The few I've made several years back, sounded worse than any cable I've ever tried before... :cry:

I think it has something to do with being anal retentive, and melting a few extra meters of tin to make sure it never comes off... So you end up with a nice hum, and then, after staring at it too hard, the plug drops off anyway. :aww:
 
duodecim":385fsj2f said:
guitarslinger":385fsj2f said:
[...]
This is the real ultimate power. My local guitar friends are just wowed by this ability I have.
[...]
Click to expand...

We are too, and now you've gotten some practice, you can make me a few. :gethim:

The few I've made several years back, sounded worse than any cable I've ever tried before... :cry:

I think it has something to do with being anal retentive, and melting a few extra meters of tin to make sure it never comes off... So you end up with a nice hum, and then, after staring at it too hard, the plug drops off anyway. :aww:
Click to expand...

This made me laugh. I can just see a mess of copper and dried solder falling out of the jack plugged into the amp. :lol: :LOL:
 
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