Wires

[Phend]

Hello: Cable talk
We have purchased cables (composed of wires) over the years.
Some are great and some are junk.
My favorite is the curly cable from long ago purchased from somewhere.
Probably not very hi teck but ok...
SO:
There are:
-Straight cables
-Curly cables
-Short cables
-Long cables
-Black cables
-Color cables
-Thick cables
-Thin cables
-Mogami 155pF / M cable
-Mogami 130pF / M cable
-Chinese no brand cables
-Gold plated cable connectors
-Nickle plated cable connectors
-O2 free cable
-O2 fortified cable for that corrosive sound
-No cable at all
-Cableless cable aka air guitar

Any discussion on cables ?

[stallik]

Over the years, I've used many of the cables that you've listed and my favourite by far is labled "Proel high teh professional guitar cable low capacity superflexible" (teh is their typo not mine)

It's quite thick but doesn't tie itself in knots, has low capacitance and has lasted without issues for maybe 30 years? I bought a long length of it and made up several 5 meter cables using Neutrik plugs which were, at the time, new to me. The rubber surrounding the silent plug versions has decayed a bit but each cable remains noise free and doesn't appear to suck any tone - perhaps not surprising as they're only 5m

I sacrificed a couple to make up patch leads which have also turned out to pretty bullet proof

Other cables I've used have usually failed miserably within a couple of years, some becoming microphonic.

I've looked for a modern day equivalent and think Proel still manufacture something similar but I've yet to order any

Oh, and I've got a Smoothound wireless guitar system. Sounds fine but a cable is so reliable that it spends its life in its box. Should really move that on...

[PRR]

Don't forget aluminum lightly flashed with copper-tone.

I was amazed how fast that stuff rotted-through. Bought trailer light set and within a year every wire was open-circuit.

CAT5-CAT8 cable is good for four-pair work if you control power and crosstalk. Cheap as dirt, especially if you befriend a net-tech. Also rip it up for internal wiring.

[amptramp]

I have used colour-coded ribbon cable for the internals of some projects.  It lies flat and can be folded to make turns and the colour code makes it simple to make the right connections at either end.

As for guitar cable, I am in favour of converting electronic signals to light and using fiber optic cable.  It is light, cheap and you never get the equivalent of interference.  So what if you need a battery in the guitar?  It can be rechargeable from a wall wart or USB source.  The opto interface could be of this form:



The interface would not be a stompbox, strictly speakiing, because there would be no need to bypass it, so there would be no switch to stomp.