Guitar/effects cables, switching from straight in to right angle jack - help please

[sunvalleylaw]

As I build my new pedal board, (See here for description and pics http://www.thefret.net/showthread.ph...al-Board-Build ) I find I want to change the jacks on a couple of my perfectly good cables from straight in to right angle. Particularly the guitar cable into the tuner on the upper right, and the return cable to the amph coming out of my MXR Carbon Copy on the lower left. Both are perfectly good cables, and it would be nice not to have to buy new ones. Also, the straight in going into the input of the M9. Though that one is a little too long anyway, and I may just buy a new live wire right to right for that one.

So anyway, I plan on switching out a couple jacks. I have a small soldering iron and some solder (I am going to go with solder and not solderess). I plan on getting a couple switchcraft jacks. http://tubedepot.com/p-226.html or stop in to Guitar Center when I am in Boise on Tuesday and pick a couple up there. I found a decent video demonstrating the soldering process.



But this vid does not address the blue sheathing that comes out of the jacks on my cables (see pic in pedal board thread). Can I just skip that part? If I shouldn't skip it, how is that stuff applied?

Any other hints would be appreciated too. DVM, other modders? Thanks!

[sunvalleylaw]

Here is another good vid on repairing/replacing a jack. It still does not deal with the heat shrink type wrap that comes out of the jack for an inch or two on my cables though:



This one by the same outfit shows the heatshrink wrap used when building cables from Mogami cable and parts from scratch.



I guess I can just combine the two build techniques. Thoughts appreciated from any of you that have worked with your own cables. Otherwise, I hope these vids help someone else considering doing the same. :-)

[Tig***]

The blue sheathing sounds like an insulator for your cable's center conductor. Be careful not to melt it.


An FYI on a similar subject:
I bought a Lava solderless cable kit and so far haven't had any luck with it. The problem is me. I've built a few 6" right angle cables, but they aren't working. I've torn them apart and re-terminated them, and still no luck. In my past jobs I've terminated tens of thousands of cables of all kinds, and even have a NASA flight hardware soldering and cabling certificate, and I still can't get these damn cables to work!

The Pro Co patch cables from Sweetwater are a little pricey, but they work great.

[sunvalleylaw]

I will probably just get a couple more live wire patch cables for the shorties. They work fine for me. the longer ones I have, I don't really want to have to buy over. They work fine too. So replacing the jacks should work fine. I will follow the solder method in those vids I find if I don't just buy new cables altogether. The blue stuff is heat shrink, and I think both insulates and protects the connection once it is soldered together, and provides stress relief from bending. It goes on with a heat gun as shown in the last vid I linked above.

It would be a fun project, but if I am in almost the cost of a new live wire cable with parts, I may just buy the cables and have my current ones as back ups. They have lifetime warranties on them too that might be voided if I mod them.

[Zip]

Just my opinion, but if you're re-doing your board why not get cables that you'll love for years at the same time? Get some GeorgeL's, make them whatever size/configuration/length you want, and bask in sonic purity. George Lewis knew what the hell he was doing, for sure.

[sunvalleylaw]

Well, most of my cables work just fine. I am not sure I want to invest in a $80 plus kit when most of the stuff works. Also, isn't George L stuff solderless? Looks to me that the same problems that can happen with the Lava kits can happen with those too.

[Zip]

GeorgeL stuff is all waranteed forever, so no worries about non-working parts.

I still use some Mogami, Monster, PlanetWaves, etc. but IMO the GeorgeL's are worth the investment. Eric Johnson uses GeorgeL's, and he's a cork-sniffing tone-snob of the 20th degree (although I don't like his music too much)

[sunvalleylaw]

A lot of people swear by them I know. I will probably at least look at their website to see what it would cost to get going with them.

[Tig***]

I built a longer GeorgeL cable, and it worked perfectly. I should have gone with them for my patch cable kit.

[Ch0jin]

.. The blue stuff is heat shrink, and I think both insulates and protects the connection once it is soldered together, and provides stress relief from bending. It goes on with a heat gun as shown in the last vid I linked above.

Also, as long as you don't use black heat shrink, leaving a couple of inches hanging out the plug (as per your pedal board pics) also serves as a handy place to write things like "SEND" and "RETURN" and "AMP" and stuff. At least that's what I do

Also, in a pinch you can shrink it with a lighter, the barrel of a soldering iron, a hair dryer and matches. (I think that about covers all things I've tried to shrink heat shrink with) I have a cheap little gas powered heat gun specifically made for the job now though.

Also, FWIW, I'm all about soldered cables. Solder-less feels like a solution to a problem that I don't have (i.e. not being able to solder)

[otaypanky***]

While I readily admit my addiction to the smell of solder smoke, I also have to admit that the George L solder-less cables I have used have never been a problem, and yes, they do sound outstanding if you like a low capacitance cable. Nothing gets lost. The first time I started using one it made me realize there was nothing wrong with the pickups and pots I was planning on replacing in a particular guitar, the problem was the tone sucking Monster cablesI was using. Since then I have been very particular about cables.
If someone is typically playing through a bunch of pedals and a buffer I'm not sure that the clarity of something like a George L would be as noticeable or as important, but if you like going straight in to your amp and use the volume and tone controls on it to shape your sound, you'll love the difference.
In any case, the solder free design is simple and quick and always worked fine for me,

[kidsmoke*]

Steve et al... GeorgeL is idiot proof. By that I mean that they worked for me and I made a half dozen.

Tools needed:
1) wire cutters
2) ......

Right well, maybe pliers for little extra oomph...that last quarter turn. Seriously, I'm astounded any other product even survives with this stuff in the market.