Conference napalm::guitar

    Hello there,
        Why don't you make your own ?? I've stopped buying the ready-made
    ones long ago. I found that mine lasted longer through rough abuse.
    It'll cost you approx 1/2 the price if you make your own too. You
    can get all types of cables too. Half-straight/half-coil cables,
    or straight ones. You can then put any type of connector on the ends.
    A 90 degree connector on one end and a straight one on the other.
    The last cord I had to fix of mine was last week, BUT I made it
    about 5yrs ago. That's pretty good in my book. You can buy bulk
    Belden type cable and switchcraft connectors at most good music
    stores. Just a thought mind you, but before I spend $15 - $20. on 
    a ready-made cable, I'll make 2 or 3 at home and they'll work great.
    
    Food for thought !!   :^)
    
    Fred   Who-believes-that-all-amps-start-sounding-great-around-11.
    

    Never thought of making my own.
    
    I did, however, find a source for Whirlwinds, and it's right here
    in town!  It's Union Music in Worcester, and they have great prices.
    Whirlwinds come in different types, and their "Leaders" are their
    best.  Union has them for $10.95 (wow!) for a 10-ft cable, $11.95
    for an 18-ft, and $13.95 for a 25-ft.
    
    I would highly recommend Leaders.  They have hard rubber around the
    cord from the shaft of the conductor to about 4 inches out.  Therefore,
    the wire doesn't bend at the connector, and there is no stress point.
    
    At these prices, I'd rather buy than spend the time to make my own.
    For ME, it is worth the extra money.
    
    Adam
    

    I agree with .1, but that still didn't answer the question.
    Unfortunately, I don't think this is going to, either.
    Whirlwind is only one fish in the sea, it's no better or worse than
    any other ready-made cable on the market (as long as you don't go
    to adioray ackshay).  I use fenders because they're guaranteed for
    life, and my aria flash cords are pretty nice (if a cord can be
    *nice*).  But, I mean, get serious....  There's not that much
    difference.
    
    However, if you've really got yourself in a tizzy about this, don't
    drive to NY, silly.  They're not hard to find, even here in itty
    bitty little massachusetts.  I don't know about western MA, but
    if you get around wormtown, try McDuffs, Union, Kurlans, Wurlitzer,
    Martins, I've seen them everywhere.
    
    Miracles are few and far between these days, and I'm afraid I just
    don't believe that Whirlwind cables are any more fantastic than
    anything else.
    
    Jon
    

    I have yet to buy a brand of cord that hasn't failed.
    
    I recently dumped $35 (!!!) on one of these brown thick ones that
    have a cutoff plug such that you can pull the plug without sending
    zaps to your amp.  The thing looked like it was built for military
    use.
    
    That cord lasted about 3 months!!!  Good grief!!!  Sure, I can probably
    fix it, but I can fix the $5 cords I buy from Radio Shack too!!!
    
    BTW, I do not do any of the various guitar acrobatics that might
    lead to cord wear.  By most people's standards, I'm not only boring
    to listen to, I'm also boring to watch.
    
    	db

    
    	Hmmm.. Lifetime guarantee  Last time I had one of those and it went
    	bad, I had to send it to Elk Mound Wisconsin or some place like
    that :-).  With the postage and waiting time, I just build my own
    also. Now if music stores would swap out the bad cords, I would be
    more likely to buy Lifetime Guaranteed cables.  Any stores that
    do this???               
    
    Guy Novello
    

    
    I too, have gone through a lot of cords.
    
    In general the more they cost, the sooner they break!!!
    
    On the other hand, the problem is often just the plugs.  I have
    a Morley "lifetime guarantee" cord that I have replaced the plugs
    on twice.  Never any trouble with the *cord* itself.
    
    Some others I have had very good luck with:
    
    Pro-Co, just cheap, medium quality cords (I get them at McDuff's
    where they are private labeled as "McDuff's Cables").  Never had
    a problem with them.
    
    Bill Lawrence cords, these are the ones where if you break the cord,
    you just loosen one screw on the plug, cut off the bad cord section
    and replace the plug, no soldering, etc.  Also never had one fail.
    Which is pretty funny, the big selling point is that you can fix
    it with a knife and a scredriver, except it doesn't break!!!!!
    I bought a kit from Lawrence with 50' of cable and ten plugs. 
    I built two 10' cables, a couple of 2' ones for a friend's PA and
    still have some cord and plugs left.  I also had bought a preassembled
    20' cable.  These guys are over six years old, BTW.
    
    The Fender cord that came with my Precision looks like a copy of
    the Lawrence.  This cord has also held up to mucho abuse for over
    2 years so far.
                                            
    My only rules....no molded plugs, no right angle plugs.
    
    

	I couldn't resist adding my 2 cents worth to this discussion on
	patch cords.  While  I personally would go in for the DIY kind,
	I  can  understand  that  not  everyone  might have the time or
	inclination to do this.  However, I must point out some real +s
	to brewing your own.

	If  you use a ready made affair and do a good deal of live acts
	make  your  own  tapes, you should go in for the kind that have
	the  right  capacitance.  These are pretty expensive (could run
	you upto $ 30 for a 20' one  - not that anyone would want a 20'
	patch cord) but are necessary to prevent loss of HF.

	Low  capcitance  cable,  on  the  other hand is obviously  much
	cheaper  and  brewing your own allows you to customize lengths,
	connectors, etc.

	/ravi

    
    As far as patch cords go, at one time I made all my own cords. Now
    I tend to buy them due to extreme laziness in my old age. Whether
    you buy them or make them yourself eventually you will have to repair
    them or trash a $10-$20 cable. I wouldn't throw my soldering iron
    out yet. A few rules of thumb:
    
    		no plastic moulded ends, period.
    
    		no coiled cords (I know whirlwind makes some good ones,
    	but I hate coiled cords).
    
    		I always try to use switchcraft, but have seen a few
    	others that were just as good. Absolutely no Radio Trash
    	connectors.
    
    	Use the shortest length possible, and avoid having stright phone
    	jacks sticking out in midair by using 90 degree jacks (someone said
    	earlier that they don't believe in 90 degree plugs. Switchcraft
    	makes a real good angled jacks so why not use them ?)
    
    	When it comes to floor standing effects I believe in attaching
    	everything to a rack, and have as many of the cables as possible
    	tucked inside of the rack. This greatly reduces cable wear, setup
    	time, and avoids having technical difficulty on stage. A simpler
    	approach is to get some 1/4" phone male - male (essentially
    	a patch cord without the wire) which bridges two effects together
    	directly.
    
    
    		Mcduffs sells a generic cord which features beldon wire,
    	switchcraft cable. If I remember correctly, they wil replace
    	any defective cords with a new one at no charge.
    
    
    		What else can we say about patch cords ??
    
    	
    							Mark Jacques
    

Any Belden cable #'s for rolling your own??

    mark