After reading a thread about cables I got to thinking about it somewhat. How is your cable maintenance? I use planet wave. I properly roll my cables and stack them in a bag with all the other properly rolled sound system cables. I hate to pull out a cable and it’s all tangled up. Our lead guitarist will pull out this rat’s nest of cables and try to hook up. Cracks me up to watch him unravel the mess. I have actually seen him get his foot all tangled up during a gig. I don’t let anybody mess with my cables. Most damaged cables that I have seen are from improper handling. Don’t get me wrong, I think free replacement is great, but through proper handling you should not have to replace them to often. I know you guys take good care of your bass, and your rig. So lets here it. How do you handle your cables?
- Thread starter lowstrung
- Start date
skabassist13
Well-known member
i roll my intrument cable up and put it in my case. my speaker cable gets rolled up and sits on top of the head.
Morrow
Well-known member
I put little velcro ties on my cables. I always roll them up. It saves grief setting up and I know exactly which cable is which. I strongly beiieve that they last longer if they suffer less wear and tear.
TSanders
Well-known member
I roll them up and tie them with two sided velcro strips and put them in my rack.
spectorbassguy
Well-known member
I loosely fold my cables in half several times until they are maybe 12-14" long. The Planet Waves cable ties make it easy to do that way.
phatduckk
Well-known member
i toss mine in a backpack with my tuner, tools, extra batteries etc. i dont baby the thing but its definately not being abused or tangled in the backpack either ... its been going just fine for over 2 years now. (i have no idea what brand it is either)
phatduckk
Well-known member
cgworkman said:
yup, that and my amp & cab ... although those are too heavy to steal without someone I know (or me) noticing and kicking their ass
spectorbassguy
Well-known member
Go to any Radio Shack. They have a package of them for a few bucks.LeftyLB said:
OOPS do they have Radio Shack's in UK? If not any electronics supply store should have them.
Morrow
Well-known member
Most hardware stores carry them as well. They make it really easy to keep your cables in order. In the old days people would tape a small length of shoelace to the cable to tie them up but the velcro ties are a more elegant solution.
LeftyLB said:
I've had trouble finding them too, they're not widely available in the UK.
What you could do is buy velcro from Kings fabrics (or any other haberdashery for that matter... don't often get an opportunity to use that word
)At present I use a scrunchy (big stretchy thing for girls' hair) to keep the cables in check. Not ideal, but slightly amusing buying them from Claire's Accessories.
I coil them up by wrapping them loosely around my hand and elbow (if that makes sense). A BBC-trained guy I know disapproves highly of this. Apparently you should allow the coil to take its own shape, letting gravity do the work as you lay it gradually on the ground (difficult to describe). This prevents internal stresses through twisting.
I figure that, since I've seen no changes in cable resistance over the last year, my method works fine for the frequency I use my cables.
Mobay45
Well-known member
dlloyd said:
The BBC-trained guy is right. I learned this a long time ago working in construction (I thought they were going to lose their minds when they saw me winding up an electrical cord in the manner that you described!). Winding the cord up in that manner will twist the wires internally and eventually cause shorts, not to mention that they are all twisted when you try to use them. And we all know that it just sucks when you get to a gig and plug in your cord and it doesn't work. When you learn the other method of winding up your cord, it doesn't take any longer to do it and you have a cable that will lay straight on the floor and keep it's conductivity.
Mobay45
Well-known member
I did a search on Zzounds.com and musiciansfriend.com for "velcro" and they both got results for wire wraps.
