Ideas for labeling cables so they don't wander off?

[Processaurus]

Whenever you share a practice space even with honest people, it seems tricky keeping track of cables.  Some folks put some colored electrical or duct tape on there, but it gets gooey/gross over time and comes undone.  On a couple cables I've made, I had the foresight to use a light colored shrink tubing as a strain relief, and just written my name on it with a sharpie.  But for cables that are already made, that are just generic black, the only thing I could think of is getting really fat shrink tubing, again in a light color, and shrinking that on the metal shell, that screws on to the plug part, then writing whatever on it.  No idea how to do that for right angle patch cords though.  Ideas?  How do you experienced musicians keep track of your wires?

[Alex C]

I haven't used this product, but I've heard good things about it, and it might work for you in this situation.
Its intended use is for making your own rubber grips for tools and that kind of thing.
http://www.plastidip.com/industrial/plastidip.html

Here's a picture of it in action with some sort of cable:


I think you could tape off the parts of the plug that you want to remain intact, then dunk away.

I've seen it at Lowe's, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, etc.

-Alex

[mars_bringer_of_war]

Give the cables a shot of spray paint in an unusual color. It won't come off easily, and if you pick the right color (read:ugly), no one will want it.  

[John Lyons]

Buy some clear heat shrink
Print out your name etc on a piece of paper and shrink wrap it to the plug or cable.

John

[soulsonic]

I put some bright yellow electrical tape around the barrels of the plugs on some of my cables. I had a friend who had bright blaze orange marking strips tied to all his.

I had this sweet cable made with about $100 (only 10 feet!) worth of Straightwire high-end hi-fi cable and some nice Neutrik plugs....... it walked off one day - along with my Microsynth and Dan-Echo!

[s.r.v.]

how about getting some cable ties and just wrapping like funky color around the ends? not very noticable, but when you see someone with cable ties on the ends you'll know they stole yours!

[BubbaKahuna]

Nail polish.

Cheap, you can write with it, it comes in a million colors (ok, not a million but a lot) never wears off but will come off with ... nail polish remover (also cheap).
Best part is you can not only use it on cords, but DI boxes and anything else that tubing or tape couldn't be used on if you life depended on it.
I also use different colored nail polish to color code jacks to cords in the PA. ANYONE can put my PA together. 

I gave up using snotty tape decades ago, now everything I own has a big dot of pink nail polish on it and nobody asks which stuff is mine - even at multi band shows.

I'm confident in my manhood, pink dots on my stuff don't scare me.
Seems to scare the hell out of everyone else though. 

Cheers,
- JJ

[Processaurus]

Good, solid ideas, thanks.  I think being able to write on it is key so that even people that didn't know you would know whose cord it is.

John, the clear shrink tube and a printed label would be the pro way to go.  We have a label maker at work that has adhesive on it, one could stick that to a plug, then shrink tube it with the clear.

I actually like the spray paint idea a lot, you could mask off a band if you wanted it to look clean, and write on that.  I wonder if there is a spray paint that would really bond to the rubber insulation, that wouldn't crack and get gross from being flexed.  The rubberize it stuff might work, if you dipped a section of the cable in it to make a colored band.

Nail polish sounds good too, I bet you could write something and put clear nail polish over it so the writing wouldn't get rubbed off.

[Rodgre]

What I like to do is leave all of my cables plugged into a box I built which gives a mild electrical shock if anyone else tries to use them.

But seriously folks, if you're concerned enough to want to mark them as your's, heat shrink is the way to go. I've started doing it with all the cables at the studio, whenever I build new ones or fix old ones. Clear heat shrink with a printed paper label underneath is very classy. White heat shrink with your name in sharpie works too.

I've also made sure that my name and contact info are on most of my gear that would ever show up at a gig. I put Avery labels on the bottoms of pedals, and I've etched my name and my own security numbers into a few things. Things like extension cords and power strips, which always seem to be borrowed at a gig, all say "THIS IS NOT YOUR'S. YOU ARE STEALING THIS. PROPERTY OF blahblahblah....."

Once, I forgot a power strip at a Boston club, and the next time I went to see a show there, it was plugged in at the FX rack. After the gig, I pointed out to the soundman that it was my power strip, and I asked if he ever noticed that it said "THIS IS NOT YOUR'S...." I got her back in my arms!

Roger

[col]

I have been using a colour code on all my cables including mains leads and speaker leads for years after I used to get them nicked at every gig. I use cheap electrical tape, I get around 10 colours in a pack from the pound shop. It's not easy to get off and you can see what's yours immediately. I also put our bands stickers under pedals, on tuners, power supplies etc. and this has got me my tuner back after I left it at a gig.

[MetalGod]

I had the same problem when I shared our practice space with two other bands - it pissed me off...

... but not as much as the dickhead who somehow blew three of the speakers in my vintage Marshall 4x12