A while back someone posted a link to a site that sold really nice bulk guitar cable, but now I can't find it. I'm looking to start making all the instrument cable for me band, as we are constantly having cables go bad...any suggestions?
yeah, if your cables are going bad, i would venture to guess
you bought "horizon" cables. making your own is the best bet.
you can get bulk cable at www.partsexpress.com
if you want a premade cable that will stand up to road
abuse, get whirlwind.
i toured with a band extensively and i was always fixing horizon
cables.....they dont tin their connections and so the center lead
frays and breaks after a little bit of use.
i never had a whirlwind cable go bad on me though.... :)
This is from Bill Lawrence's web site:
"The old Lawrence 1500 by Belden was a modified 8218 that went through an anti-static treatment process that I developed. It's a very durable cable, and the last time I spoke with Eric Johnson, he told me he's still using my cables that he bought twenty years ago. The cable is a little bit stiffer than most of these big supercords and tends to tangle when you dance with the guitar on a big stage.
A few years ago, I designed a more flexible cable with a 6.5mm diameter and a capacitance of 18 pico farad per foot, but Belden wants an opening order of $60,000 to gear up for this product. So far, the 4mm 8218 is still the best cable available, and I can buy it in small quantities.
I'm fully geared up to make solderless connectors, made our first run about one year and haven't put them on the market yet. We have about 1500 in inventory right now.
About George L: George was my national distributor for all my products from 1975 - 1981. When we separated, he had a similar cable made by another wire company ( Belden couldn't sell him my cable due to my exclusive contract with Belden), and he also made a mediocre copy of my solderless plug. The cable is okay and has a capacitance of some 20 pico farad, but a buck a foot is way too much. "
You gotta love Bill, but where's the cable!??
You mean Bill's cable or the Belden?
Bill sells his own at his site. The Belden, I think you can get it from Mouser in lengths of 100'.
I still love my pickups from him.
I bought a batch of guitar cable from parts express myself not too long ago from parts express. It was quite nice for the price. I also bought a ton of those right angle plugs and made a bunch of patch cables for my pedals. total cost? about 25 bucks and I have about 5 spares =)
I did the parts express thing. Got myself 100' of 90% shielded proco stuff and tons of plugs. Cost me more than $25 but I chose to spend more for the better shielding. So far so good. I'm still building cables for myself from that one spool of wire. I don't think I'm gonna do it any other way in the future.
I wonder if small bear will start carrying nice bulk cable and plugs...hmmm
Guess it depends upon demand mostly.