Bulk Shielded Cable

[lowell]

What is your favorite shielded guitar cable? Looking to buy in bulk so can make various lengths of cords. Looking for the best braided or even foil shield. Not George L. Too expensive.

[Enzo]

Lowell, if you want to build cords, then bless you, have fun.

I used to be a dealer for Rapco/Horizon, and I bought their made up cords as well as spools of cable, and XLR and !/4" connectors by the hundred. Until one day looking at my invoices and talking to my inside rep, I realized the finished cords they sold me cost the same as the raw materials to make them, and I didn't have to put the labor into them. Further, the ends were all nicely and evenly terminated, and the strain reliefs neatly crimped. When I do it inevitably I might melt some insulation, unweave some shield clumsily, or make ugly strain relief crimps. So I decided the only time I would make a cord was if someone needed one right this moment. I could buy a cable for $15 or I could pay $15 for the parts and build it. WHy would I build it?

And if guy wanted a 1/4 to banana speaker cord, I'd take a 1/4 to 1/4 speaker cord off the wall, lop off one end and stick on a banana, rather than make the whole thing.

If I ever wanted a custom cord - and they had an extensive list already of stock combinations - they would make them up in a day. At most it took one additional day from filling a stock order. They were two days away UPS. They will make cords of any wire you like with any ends you want to any length you want.

I mostly used Switchcraft ends, but they also sold the Neutrix. They sold several types of cable, Belden and others. Easy enough to compare costs.

SHields can be braid, spiral or foil. FOil is not meant to be flexed. Foil is great for permanent installs, like interior of equipment rack or studio path panel behind wiring. But not for cables you move around. the foil will tear up. I love foil though. SPiral shield tends to be more flexible. It might be a few percent less coverage, like 97% instead of 99%, but often as not there will be a conductive plastic layer under it to cover the gaps and the net result is full shielding. I like that for guitar cords. FUll on braid is fine, but to me a pain to unbraid and terminate.

[Randall]

I really like Canare GS-6, I buy it in 100' lengths here: Canare GS-6 Instrument Cable Coax 18Awg Oxygen Free - Cut

[jbltwin1]

I remember buying 500 ft of spiral shielded cord that was so noisy that I called the company that sold it to me and told them what a POS product it was. they said, "no problem, send it back. AT YOUR EXPENSE!". It would have cost me more to send it back than what it cost me. I DID buy another roll from them that was foil shielded AND wrapped and it's fine but BE CAREFUL. Some of this stuff is crap. By the way, the Neutrix stuff is OK, almost good. . Switchcraft is just better. But HIGHER. Mike.